Labeling Litigation on Both Sides of the Atlantic: Food for Thought (Part I)

December 23, 2013
Food Manufacturing

Types : Bylined Articles

You can’t judge a book by its cover, as the saying goes, but what about judging food products based on their labels? Do the truthfulness and non-misleading character of a food label depend on where the label was published, where it’s read by the consumer or the nationality of its purchaser?

The U.S. Class-Action Menu

A cornucopia of consumer fraud class action lawsuits is pending across the United States, many involving manufacturers’ use of the term “natural” on food labels. Much of this “Food Court” fracas stems from the lack of a formal definition of “natural” in any U.S. federal or state statutes or regulations. Many American plaintiff consumers have used this absence of a “natural” definition as a springboard to file class actions alleging that, for example, because a food product contains artificial sweeteners or genetically modified organisms, the product is not “natural” and, therefore, its label is unfair or deceptive under state consumer protection statutes.

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