Kraft Calls Wheat Thins® Labeling Challenge a “Lawyer-Concocted Class Action”

Kraft Foods and its subsidiary have asked a federal court in California to
dismiss claims that they mislead consumers by labeling Wheat Thins® crackers
as “100% whole grain,” contending that the theory of the case does not
meet the plausibility pleading standard and the state law-based claims are
preempted under federal law. Garcia v. Nabisco, Inc., No. 12-4272 (C.D. Cal., motion filed June 22, 2012). According to the defendants’
motion, this is nothing but a “lawyer-concocted class action lawsuit” and
reasonable consumers understand that the “100% whole grain” representation
“merely indicates that the only type of grain used in the crackers is ‘whole
grain’ as opposed to non-whole grains used in enriched flours,” not that the
crackers contain nothing but whole grains. “Common sense dictates that
processed crackers are not made with only a stalk of whole grain and that they
are made with the help of processing agents, baking aids, and seasonings.” In
any event, say the defendants, all of the ingredients appear on the packaging
ingredient list “in accordance with federal law.”