Woman Sues Bagel Bites for Use of 'Deceptive and Misleading' Ingredients
Specifically, the plaintiff says the company's claim of using "mozzarella cheese" and "tomato sauce" in its product is "false."
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Snacktime favorite of 90s kids everywhere, Bagel Bites, is currently facing a lawsuit over two key ingredients: mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce.
According to The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a Wisconsin woman believes the frozen pizza bagels' packaging is so misleading that it "amounts to fraud." Kaitlyn Huber has reportedly sued Kraft Heinz over the issue in a federal lawsuit.
Specifically, Huber took issue with the use of the term "mozzarella cheese" to describe the cheese featured on Bagel Bites, which is technically a "cheese blend" that contains additional ingredients.
Huber is from Wisconsin, a state which, as her lawsuit mentions, is known as "America's Dairyland." Cheese is culturally and economically important to the state, and mozzarella specifically contributes to a third of all cheese produced there.
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According to the suit, "Wisconsin consumers want real mozzarella cheese in pizza because they value (1) its soft, moist texture, (2) its milky, yet tangy taste and (3) its high protein and relatively low calories and sodium compared to other cheeses."
However, the cheese blend included in the Bagel Bites reportedly only includes a percentage of part-skim mozzarella cheese, in addition to filler ingredients like "modified food starch." According to Huber, the inclusion of these ingredients means that calling it "mozzarella" is misleading, especially considering the brand's Real Dairy seal.
"'Cheese Blend' is a deceptive name for this ingredient, because no 'blend' of cheese, especially 'REAL' mozzarella cheese, contains added starch," reads the lawsuit.
Because of the added starch, argues the lawsuit, Kraft Heinz should be calling their cheese "imitation mozzarella cheese" instead of labeling it as the real deal.
Huber's suit also claims that the label "tomato sauce" fraudulently misrepresents the ingredient actually used in Bagel Bites.
"Consumers expect a product claiming to contain 'Tomato Sauce' will contain tomatoes in a puree or paste form, and seasonings," reads the lawsuit. "However, the front label representation of 'Tomato Sauce' is false, deceptive and misleading because this ingredient contains non-tomato extenders and thickeners." As the suit notes, "the fourth and sixth most predominant ingredients are 'Modified Corn Starch' and 'Methylcellulose.'"
As of Monday, a spokesperson for Kraft Heinz said the company had no comment regarding the lawsuit, according to The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
A similar suit was reportedly filed in New York earlier this year but was withdrawn. Huber's attorney believes that setting the case in Wisconsin will be advantageous, due to the dairy industry's significance in the state.
The suit is seeking "class-action status on behalf of anyone who bought the bites in Wisconsin." If successful, Kraft Heinz will be forced to change Bagel Bites' packaging and pay damages.
