“Healthy Choice” Pasta Product Labeling and Promotions Challenged Due to HFCS

A California resident has filed suit against ConAgra Foods, Inc., alleging that it falsely advertises and labels its Healthy Choice® pasta sauce products as “100% Natural,” “Natural” or “All Natural” despite using high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) to make them. Lockwood v. ConAgra Foods, Inc., No. 08-4151 (N.D. Cal., filed September 2, 2008). Claiming that “[t]he complicated process used to create HFCS does not occur in nature” and that “it is misleading to consumers to label products that contain HFCS as ‘Natural,’” the plaintiff seeks to certify a class of “All persons in California who purchased any of Defendant’s pasta sauce products containing High Fructose Corn Syrup, yet marketed, advertised or labeled as being ‘All Natural’, ‘Natural’ or ‘100% Natural’ during the ‘Class Period.’”

According to the plaintiff, a number of common questions predominate over individual issues, including whether defendant misrepresented its ingredients, mislabeled its products or engaged in unfair and deceptive conduct, among other matters. The complaint alleges misleading and deceptive advertising; untrue advertising; unlawful, unfair and fraudulent business acts and practices; and violations of the state’s Consumer Legal Remedies Act. The plaintiff seeks injunctive relief, corrective advertising, restitution, disgorgement, punitive damages, attorney’s fees, and costs. The injuries alleged include “millions of dollars in losses,” because the defendant’s marketing “caused Plaintiff and other members of the putative Class to purchase, purchase more of, or pay more for, these ‘All Natural’ products.”