Earlier this week, plaintiff Jessica Sneed filed a class action suit against the defendant Ferrero U.S.A. Inc in the Northern District of Illinois. The plaintiff alleges that the defendant has made misleading claims in their Kinder Joy egg-shaped candy.
The defendant is described in the complaint as “the second largest manufacturer of chocolate and confectionery products in the world.”
The complaint states that the “defendant makes other representations and omissions with respect to the product which are false or misleading.”
The product that the plaintiff is referring to is the egg-shaped candy named “Kinder Joy” which claims to have “sweet cream topped with Cocoa wafer bites.”
The plaintiff is alleging that the misrepresentation of this product stems from its advertisement of cream. They allege that the product uses artificial cream as opposed to real cream.
According to the Food and Drug Administration, (FDA) the complaint relates, the classification for cream is “the liquid milk product high in fat separated from milk, which may have been adjusted by adding thereto: milk, concentrated milk, dry whole milk, skim milk, concentrated skim milk, or nonfat dry milk. Cream contains not less than 18 percent milkfat.”
However, according to the plaintiff, the cream being used in this product does not meet the FDA definition. The complaint argues that the product instead contains artificial cream, “derived from hardened vegetable oils” including palm, sheanut, and sunflower oils. This depriveed the plaintiff of “nutritive, sensory, organoleptic, and other attributes expected from a product described as ‘[Sweet] Cream.'”
The defendant is facing several counts including, violation of state consumer fraud acts, breach of contract, breach of express warranty, negligent misrepresentation, fraud, and unjust enrichment.
The plaintiff is being represented by Sheehan & Associates, P.C.
