A federal judge in New York has dismissed a lawsuit that accused Pop-Tarts’ parent company, Kellogg’s, of deceptive labeling over the amount of strawberry contained in frosted strawberry Pop-Tarts.
In the lawsuit, Kelvin Brown’s lawyers had argued that images of a fresh strawberry and fruit filling on the Pop-Tarts’ packaging, along with the words “Frosted Strawberry,” are misleading and deceptive. In his ruling dismissing the case, however, U.S. District Judge Andrew Carter said, “the Court must rely on the commonsense expectation that a reasonable consumer is unlikely to purchase a toaster pastry coated in frosting exclusively for the nutritional value of strawberries in its fruit filling.”
A federal judge in Illinois dismissed a similar lawsuit in March. That lawsuit argued that the use of apples, pears and red food coloring in addition to strawberries was deceptive, as we previously reported.
Judge dismisses Pop-Tarts lawsuit by National Content Desk on Scribd
Judge Carter emphasized that the labeling Kellogg’s used was clear, saying the use of the word “frosted” implies a flavor, not a source of the flavor, WNBC reported.
The number of lawsuits against food companies has been on the rise, going up more than 1,000% since 2008, NPR reported.