CATrends: What the Fudge?
Lawsuits allege brownie brands and others lack the essential dairy ingredients to call their products fudge.
The official start of summer may still be a few days away but a trend in class-action lawsuits regarding products marketed as olive oils and olive oil blends is already sizzling.
Since March, eight lawsuits have been filed against eight different olive oil brands for either allegedly marketing products as olive oils when they contain other inferior cooking oils or as olive oil blends when they don’t contain any olive oil at all.
For example, a complaint filed against Racconto in May alleges the company markets its products as extra virgin olive oil when testing shows they contain canola oil. The lawsuit states:
Rapeseed oil, more commonly known as canola oil in the United States, is a highly processed oil and considered to be lower quality than extra virgin olive oil. More importantly, rapeseed oil is sold at far lower prices than extra virgin olive oil …
The Gourmet Factory, meanwhile, labels its Capatriti products as “100% Pure Olive Oil” but according to a lawsuit filed against the company in March, its olive oils are adulterated with olive pomace oil, which the complaint describes as “an ultra-processed byproduct extracted from leftover olive skins and pits,” adding:
Although it comes from olives, pomace is not olive oil and the refining process required after extraction (sic) it renders it flavorless and odorless.
And according to a complaint filed against Sadaf in March, despite the product’s name and prominent depiction of olives on the label, its Mediterranean olive oil blend “contains no detectable olive oil and consists entirely of soybean oil.”
“Consumers, drawn to olive oil for its recognized health and culinary value – a preference supported by the guidance of doctors and nutrition experts – were deceived into purchasing a product they believed was a genuine olive oil blend,” the lawsuit against Sadaf alleges.
The other olive oil brands named in litigation are Bella Gourmet Foods, Golchin, Supremo Italiano, Lombardi and Grigoris Lefas.
The lawsuits were filed in California, New York and Illinois. They are all pending.
Find more of our coverage on ingredient claims.
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