Judge Tosses Claims that MorningStar Veggie Products Misled Consumers

A federal court has dismissed a proposed class action claiming Kellogg misled consumers into believing their “veggie” MorningStar Farms products were exclusively or mostly made with vegetables. Kennard v. Kellogg Sales Co., No. 21-7211 (N.D. Cal., entered September 14, 2022).

The plaintiff in the suit alleged Kellogg misleadingly and illegally labels MorningStar Farms “veggie” products, in violation of California’s Consumer Legal Remedies Act, California’s false advertising law and California’s unfair competition law. She contended that reasonable consumers understand the term “veggie” to mean that products are made primarily of vegetables and alleged Kellogg’s use of the term “veggie” is false or misleading because the ingredients are not primarily vegetables.

The court disagreed, finding the allegations “are implausible and do not support a reasonable inference that some significant portion of consumers would be misled into thinking the VEGGIE products are made primarily of vegetables as opposed to being vegetarian meat substitutes made from grains, oils, legumes, or other ingredients.”

“Even if the use of the term VEGGIE is ambiguous and could possibly be construed as referring to vegetable content (as opposed to vegetarian content), looking to the packaging of the Veggie Products confirms that no significant amount of reasonable consumer would be misled,” the court held. “The packaging, which has been incorporated into the [first-amended complaint], provides no indication that any particular vegetable or class of vegetables is present in the Products. Instead, the majority of the photographs on the packaging show the Products clearly mimicking meat as vegetarian meat substitutes.”