Class Action to Proceed for “Natural” Pasta Sauce Containing HFCS

A federal court has refused to dismiss putative class claims filed under California’s consumer protection law against a company that advertises its pasta sauce, which contains high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), as “all natural.” Lockwood v. ConAgra Foods, Inc., No. 08-04151 (N.D. Cal., decided February 3, 2009). The defendant sought to dismiss the claims on preemption grounds and called for the class allegations to be stricken “because plaintiffs cannot prove reliance on a class-wide basis.”

According to the court, the federal Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (NLEA) does not apply to the “complaint as currently pled. Plaintiffs do not allege that defendant’s pasta sauce contains artificial flavoring, coloring or a chemical preservative; rather, they allege that the ‘high fructose corn syrup’ is not produced by a natural process and therefore the pasta sauce is not ‘all natural.’” The court also found that the claims were not impliedly preempted because “Congress has explicitly stated that it does not intend to occupy the field of food and beverage nutritional labeling; instead, it permits states to regulate subject matters covered by the NLEA and its regulations provided that such state laws do not fall with in the FDCA’s [Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act’s] express preemption provisions.” The court noted that the Food and Drug Administration’s refusal to adopt any regulations about the use of the term “natural” also suggested an intent not to occupy the field.

The court denied defendant’s motion to strike the class allegations, because it could not determine on the pleadings whether a classwide inference of reliance is appropriate in this case.