Fruit and Vegetable Photos Not Misleading to Reasonable Consumer, Court Holds

A California federal court has dismissed a proposed class action against
Plum Organics alleging that large photos of fruits and vegetables on
the company’s Mighty 4® Children’s Food product packaging mislead
consumers into believing the products contain significant amounts of
those fruits and vegetables. Workman v. Plum Inc., No. 15-2568 (N.D.
Cal., filed November 2, 2015). The court refused to find that the mere
inclusion of the pictures constituted misrepresentation.

“The products at issue do not display any affirmative misrepresentations,”
the court said. “They merely show pictures of featured ingredients
contained in the puree pouch and fruit bars. No reasonable consumer
would expect the size of the flavors pictured on the label to directly
correlate with the predominance of the pictured ingredient in the puree
blend.”

In October 2015, Plum announced it would change its marketing,
including product names, to better reflect the contents of its products.
Additional information appears in Issue 582 of this Update.

Issue 584