BENTON — An Illinois woman has filed a class action against Pepperidge Farm, alleging the company is misleading consumers with its Golden Butter crackers because the product contains more synthetic substitutes than actual butter.
Deborah Floyd, individually and on behalf of all other similarly situated filed a complaint May 31 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois against Pepperidge Farm Incorporated, alleging violation of the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, breaches of express warranty and implied warranty of merchantability and violation of the Magnuson Moss Warranty Act, fraud, negligent misrepresentation and unjust enrichment.
Floyd alleges in her complaint that Pepperidge Farm falsely labels and markets its Golden Butter crackers to make consumers believe the product they purchased is predominately made with butter. She claims Pepperidge Farm substitutes vegetable oils for butter in its Golden Butter crackers and that "the product contains more vegetable oil than expected given the absence of any qualification of 'golden butter,'" which is misleading to consumers.
Floyd claims she and other consumers who prefer butter to "chemically produced" substitutes paid more for the product, which actually "contains a non-de minimis amount of butter substitutes." She further claims that butter crackers made with only butter and not vegetable oils "exist in the marketplace and are technologically feasible."
Floyd seeks monetary relief, trial by jury and all other just relief. She is represented by Spencer Sheehan of Sheehan & Associates PC in Great Neck, New York.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois case number 3:21-CV-00525