Walmart Class Action Says Baby Snack Ingredients Aren’t Fully Disclosed

A Walmart class action lawsuit claims that Parent’s Choice Organic Rice Rusks contain undisclosed milk and eggs.

Plaintiff Amanda Kelly alleges that she purchased Parent’s Choice Organic Rice Rusks as a snack for her young daughter because the packaging indicated that it didn’t contain milk and eggs.

However, Kelly claims that the product actually does contain milk and eggs which makes it dangerous to people with allergies because they rely on packaging to determine what foods are safe for them to eat.

The Walmart class action lawsuit says Kelly purchased Parent’s Choice Organic Rice Rusks specifically because the packaging indicated that it contained no milk or eggs.

She claims that no where on the packaging was there a warning that stated that the product “may contain milk or eggs,” and further, milk and eggs were not included on the ingredient list.

According to the Walmart Parent’s Choice class action lawsuit, Kelly purchased the product for her young daughter, who has an allergy to milk and eggs.

Allegedly, the daughter experienced an allergic reaction to the product which caused her to break out in hives, cry for two days, and lose sleep because of her discomfort.

When this occurred, Kelly claims that she checked the packaging again to confirm that she did not miss where the packaging noted an inclusion of milk and eggs in the product.

The Walmart baby snacks class action lawsuit alleges that Kelly then called a customer support number for Parent’s Choice, and spoke to a representative who said that there was, in fact, a warning on the package that stated that the product “may contain milk and eggs.”

Kelly then concluded that the package she purchased at Walmart was different from the one referenced by the representative, in that the design and the information included on the package she purchased was inconsistent.

Allegedly, the Parent’s Choice representative offered her a refund for under $2, which she declined.

The Parent’s Choice Organic Rice Rusks class action lawsuit claims that Kelly was financially injured by her purchase of the product because she would not have bought it had she known it contained milk and eggs.

The plaintiff says her daughter was physically injured by the product due to her allergic reaction to it. She seeks to represent a nationwide Class of similarly affected consumers and a subclass of New York consumers.

Kelly argues that the packaging for the Rice Rusks she purchased was unlawfully deceptive to consumers.

The Walmart baby snacks class action lawsuit states that New York General Business Law prohibits “deceptive acts or practices in the conduct of any business, trade or commerce…” Kelly claims that not revealing certain ingredients, as allegedly is the case with the Rice Rusks, is deceptive.

More specifically, the Parent’s Choice milk and eggs mislabeling class action lawsuit notes that New York Agriculture and Markets Law states that a food is misbranded if its label is misleading, and that “food shall be deemed to be misbranded if it contains a milk protein concentrate, caseinate, or added casein…unless it is label bears the name of such substance as an ingredient.”

The Walmart customer is represented by Jason P. Sultzer, Joseph Lipari, and Adam Gonnelli of The Sultzer Law Group PC, and by Frank S. Gattuso.

The Walmart Parent’s Choice Organic Rice Rusks Milk and Eggs Class Action Lawsuit is Amanda Kelly v. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Case No. 5:18-cv-00702-GTS-ATB, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York.