Posted May 13, 2014
Two food labeling cases recently reached settlement
after a judge certified narrower classes of plaintiffs, according to an article
by Forbes available here.
The cases, Astiana
v. Kashi Company and Thurston
v. Bear Naked concerned “all natural” labeling on food products. Judge Marilyn Huff, of the Southern District
of California, issued opinions in the cases certifying “far narrower classes of
plaintiffs.” The defendants in the cases
are both owned by Kellogg’s.
The proposed settlements will be heard by Judge Huff on
May 27.
In Astiana v. Kashi
Company, the proposed settlement includes $5 million “out of which the
incentive award will be paid” and $1,250,000 in attorneys’ fees and costs. Kashi will also remove the terms “All Natural”
and “Nothing Artificial” from certain product labels.
In Thurston v.
Bear Naked, the proposed settlement includes $2,000 in incentive awards for
the named plaintiffs and a settlement fund of $325,000. Bear Naked will remove the terms “100%
Natural” and “100% Pure and Natural” from its labels.
Kellogg Co. said it “stood by its advertising and
labeling practices but that it would change its formulas or labels nationally
by the end of the year” in a statement according to CBS News available here.
Lawsuits over food labels have become increasingly
common, prompting food companies to proactively remove the term “natural” from
labels.
The difficulty with the term “natural” on a food label
is that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not provide a
definition. The FDA’s policy considers
“natural” to mean “nothing artificial or synthetic (including all color
additives regardless of source) has been included in, or has been added to, a
food that would not normally be expected to be in the food.” The FDA says it is “difficult to define a
food product that is ‘natural’ because the food has probably been processed and
is no longer a product of the earth.”
The Food Labeling Modernization Act of 2013, H.R. 3147, would
require the FDA to establish a standard nutrition labeling system and set guidelines
for the use of the term “natural.” The
bill was introduced in September by Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ). A recent post on the subject from this blog
is available here.
For more information on food labeling, please visit the
National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
