As lower- and middle-income Americans feel the pressure amid higher food, gas, and housing costs, it is perhaps no wonder that some people take their mac and cheese so seriously.
Florida’s Amanda Ramirez is the leader of a new class-action legal suit against the Kraft Heinz Foods Company seeking $5 million for alleged false advertising. The plaintiff claims that the cooking time indicated by the company on their boxes of microwavable Velveeta Shells & Cheese is deceptive.
“The statement of ‘ready in 31⁄2 minutes’ is false and misleading because the Product takes longer than 3-and-a-half minutes to prepare for consumption,” the legal suit claims.
Court records show that Ramirez’s lawsuit was filed in mid-November by a West Palm Beach law firm in the Southern District of Florida’s U.S. District Court.
The suit seeks more than $5 million in damages and class-action status covering consumers in Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia.
While some might think the argument has more holes than Swiss cheese, Will Wright, Ramirez’s attorney, said corporations should not get a pass for “deceptive advertising.”
“I’ve gotten a lot of flak about this case, but deceptive advertising is deceptive advertising. Here, Kraft charges extra for a desirable feature (saving time) but the marketing is false, it takes far longer for the product to be ready than as advertised. Deceptive advertising plain and simple,” his statement read.
“There are a lot of people that may feel this is just a little fibbing and not really a case and I get that. But we are striving for something better. We want corporate America to be straightforward and truthful in advertising their products,” he continued.
Legal documents suggested that Ramirez bought the box of eight Velveeta microwave cups partially based on the box’s prominent preparation time claim.
But according to the directions on the back of the packaging for the microwaveable food, the duration of 3.5 minutes refers only to the cooking time. The time needed to remove the lid, add the water, stir in the water, then stir in the cheese sauce is not accounted for and cannot be completed in the 3.5-minute time frame.
The lawsuit claims the unaccounted-for prep time puts Kraft Heinz in violation of several statutes, including Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act which forbids negligent misrepresentation and unjust enrichment.
“(The company) sold more of the Product and at higher prices than it would have in the absence of this misconduct, resulting in additional profits at the expense of consumers,” the filings alleged. “As a result of the false and misleading representations, the Product is sold at a premium price, approximately no less than $10.99 for eight 2.39-ounce cups, excluding tax and sales, higher than similar products, represented in a non-misleading way, and higher than it would be sold for absent the misleading representations and omissions.”
In a statement, Kraft Heinz denounced the lawsuit as “frivolous” and promised to vigorously defend its product. Only time will tell, however, whether Ramirez and the people who signed onto the class action will get the cheddar.
Ramirez did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Dallas Express.
