Court Dismisses Fudge Pop-Tart Complaint

An Illinois federal court has granted Kellogg Sales Co.’s motion to dismiss a consumer’s putative class action complaint alleging that Frosted Chocolate Fudge Pop-Tarts lacked the milkfat (milk and butter) necessary for a product to be described as fudge. Reinitz v. Kellogg Sales Co., No. 21-1239 (C.D. Ill., entered June 2, 2022). As evidence for the claim, the plaintiff provided a book by Molly Mills, who was described as “one of today’s leading authorities on fudge”; Kellogg argued that Mills’ book, which contains 40 recipes for fudge, included multiple recipes that do not contain milkfat. “Plaintiff fails to support that the average consumer would believe a fudge product must, of necessity, contain milkfat,” the court found. Comparing a similar case dismissed when the plaintiff could not show that a reasonable consumer would be misled by the strawberry designation on the Pop-Tart label, the court dismissed the complaint but granted leave to amend within 14 days.