Woman sues over lack of avocado in Kraft guacamole
Yum!
"Like much of the prepared guacamole sold in supermarkets, Kraft guacamole is essentially a whipped paste made from partially hydrogenated soybean and coconut oils, corn syrup, whey, and food starch. Yellow and blue dyes give it the guacamole green color."
christy319
Nov 30, 2006 07:11PM
"We think customers understand that it isn't made from avocado."
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This may be the greatest quote ever!! LOL
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shameful.
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I saw that on CNN this AM and was a bit horrified but after sending DH out for some prepared stuff, I had requested the Calavo but he could not fine it and the carnitas were almost done and no ripe avocados could be had he brought some #%&# from Litehouse. That stuff had sugar in it! Disgusting. They got a hot e-mail from me. I found some passable stuff in a supermarket salad bar. Not as good as home made but prior planning etc.
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Well good luck to her. Guacamole is made with Avocado . . . it's that simple. UNLESS she bought something called "Guacamole FLAVOR Dip (which has never even SEEN an avocado, let alone been made with one).
TT
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This reminds me of something I saw in the supermarket yesterday.. actually titled "Ketchup Type Sauce"
http://www.presidentschoice.ca/FoodAn...
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Pretty soon, Kraft will be selling Macaroni and Cheese that contains less than 2% cheese. Oh wait, they already do:
http://www.kraftfoods.com/main.aspx?s...
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Buying anything from Kraft is a suspect purchase but 2% or less is just disgraceful although not surprising. I think Kraft employs more food scientists then chefs or tasters.
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No, they employ more business types than food scientists, chefs and tasters.
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Am I the only person who thinks it's a little ridiculous to SUE them for this?
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oh, definitely ridiculous... there is an ingredient list right? everyone's a victim.
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Unfortunately that's how a lot of change happens in the U.S. Are law suits the ideal method? NO but asking doesn't work, the government moves way too slow so the only method is legal and bad PR.
Any way, I think the law suit is based largely on misrepresentation or fraud, i.e., 2% avocado doesn't constitute real guac. I think calling it guacamole MIX or something like that is fair but that's even a stretch.
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Not buying works. If no one buys Kraft guacamole because there's no avocado in it, you know they'll pull it.
DT
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Ditto
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Right, because the market for Kraft guacamole is highly efficient. Give me a break -- you wouldn't even know about this but for the lawsuit.
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Right 'cause I would not think of buying it to begin with
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Nope. That's like saying people who get cheated should have no recourse because you're too smart to fall for the scam. One has very little to do with the other.
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You would if you read the label.
Buyer beware, especially when it comes to food.
--Maria
Who thinks making her own guacamole is a lot simpler than
having to explain why does the "guacamole dip" tastes so
terrible.
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Not buying as individual certainly works...en masse, probably not. If Kraft really believes; "We think customers understand that it isn't made from avocado", I doubt they'd change it.
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I agree. Food labeling needs an upgrade and the legal avenues seem to be the only way. Sure, you can just not buy it, but not everyone has the best eyesight or intelligence. Same goes for hormones in milk. I think it should be labelled as such, but it never will unless someone can sue over it.
Maybe they should just call it "green dip".
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You are on to something... the court systems (as much as we dislike lawyers) are probably the single most important thing that has kept democracy more or less working here for that last 200+ years.
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My guess is the plaintiff, Brenda Lifsey, is a lawyer, so it was no big deal for her to sue. She's apparently also a plaintiff in a lawsuit against Sears for selling tools falsely labeled "made in USA."
http://www.mcglinchey.com/images/pdf/...
Either that or she's related to an avocado farmer.
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Reminds me of a case that I'm sure incited ire in the hearts of all you Chowhounds... around Christmas in 2003, a lawyer in Berkeley decided to go after mom & pop bakeries for selling dragees (those decorative silver and gold balls)... why the mom & pops?? because they've got such shallow pockets, they wouldn't fight him and would settle immediately... leaving him to laugh all the way to the bank.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article...
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that is so nasty. omg. and here i thought all the blackhearted evil busines types were here in orange county. that guy needs to be disbarred.
now that i think about it frankly i prefer blackhearted business types. this guy is just a nut job.
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Silver and Gold dragees are now not sold in California due to this lawsuit. It was not a product that mandated a response by the producers, because it would have cost more to litigate than to ignore it. So the big sellers (Sur la Table, Williams Sonoma, etc.) just stopped selling them in CA.
This is an example of one of the reasons I'm working to get out of the law profession.
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Unless my memory has failed me completely - and that is a possibility - you can order them from Kitchen Krafts. I think I ordered last year. I'll have to check my baking tub when I get home this evening.
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I never had heard of the silver dragee brouhaha! Thanks for bringing it (in all its inanity) to my attention.
I guess I believe in using litigation somehow to force a change in the way something is labeled (although maybe there are better ways such as appealing to the FDA regarding existing food labeling laws). BUT, I definitely feel that people shouldn't be able to sue for personal monetary damages due to a lot of this stuff. It's a catch-22... people gripe about tort reform, but there are a lot of real instances of "damage" or "harm"... but in the case of "fraud" in the case of "guacamole" labeling, the rationale for monetary awards is pretty thin, in my opinion.
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Or she got disgusted by a pathetic practice and decided to do something about it. I say, good for her.
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My guess is that she's an activist for truth in labeling, trying to stick it to a big corporation. Just a guess, though. Suing is the most effective way to bring media attention to such matters. What better way?
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She's not a lawyer. Trust me. professional plaintiff, maybe but lawyer no.
and why do we need to lawyer bash on this one?
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I'm not bashing lawyers, it just seemed implausible that anyone would hire a lawyer to handle this matter.
As discussed in more recent posts, this is a class action, and like must such suits it was the lawyer's idea.
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I thought in the version of the story I read, the woman was in fact solicited by a lawyer looking to file a class action. She has also been a plaintiff in other class actions in the past, so in a way, she is a serial plaintiff.
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If it doesn't get thrown out of court, I may move to Canada. I agree with amkirkland-- no one can claim ignorance when it comes to prepared food. The information is RIGHT THERE.
Has anyone seen the package? Do they make an explicit claim that there is avocado in it?
And another question, do you think that to call it guacomole is a strong enough implication that there is avocado in there (and therefore Kraft is being misleading in their advertising)?
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Personally, I don't think it's any worse than calling something "CHEESE
food product"
the latter being in little type.
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Regardless of the ingredient list (which appears in tiny print, often in a hard to find place), labeling it "guacamole" is by definition misleading if there is no (or little) avocado in it, as "guacamole" can mean ONLY one thing, a dip made of avocado. That would be like labeling it "bean dip" and there being no beans in it.
It sounds like Kraft has already taken remedial action by re-labeling the product "guacamole flavored" dip. If I see "guacamole," I'm not likely to check the ingredient list because I'd assume it was avocado. If I see "guacamole flavored dip" that's a red flag to me that it's made of something other than pure avocado.
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welllll, playing the devil's advocate here, "bean dip" uses the word "bean"... but guacomole doesn't have the word "avocado" in it, right?
OH BUT WAIT! I just looked up the word in the OED:
guacamole
[Origin: 1915–20; < MexSp < Nahuatl āhuacamōlli lit., avocado sauce]
By the power invested in the dictionary, Kraft is misleading us!
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Lol, good use of the google skills!
There is no other definition for "guacamole" other than mushed-up avocado, perhaps with a few seasonings thrown in. It is, by definition, predominantly avocado.
It would be like saying that omlettes were not eggs, crepes were not pancakes or salsa was not sauce.
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Maybe they meant to say that considering that their cheese products contain no cheese and other similar oxymorons, that their customers shouldn't expect avocado on their guac anymore.
Sigh. Maybe they should sell it as guac-flavored dip.
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I think it's a bit frivolous (I'm from Canada, lol), but obviously it's getting the attention that she wanted it to get.
As a person who cares about what I eat, both from a healthy perspective and from a quality perspective, I make a point of reading labels of prepared items and I wouldn't buy it if I had read that label. I think more people need to read labels and be conscious consumers. The manufacturers of this type of product are banking on people either not paying attention or not caring about the product quality.
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When you buy a whole cart full of items, it's hard to read all the labels. If it says, "Milk," I don't read to make sure it's not something else. Those food ingredient labels are pretty small and much harder to read as you get older. There needs to be truth in labeling. If it's orange drink, it says orange "drink" and not "orange juice." As long as Kraft changes what it calls it, then it's not an issue but a company should not be able to label something when it's not. If you could, I could label painted copper as gold and sell it for hundreds.
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Guacamole is, by definition, an avocado-based dish. I find it astonishing that Kraft would market a product with almost no avocado in it as "guacamole." They deserve to have to defend this dishonest practice in court. I resent have to minutely scrutinize food labels to determine if I'm being ripped off -- let's hold the food giants accountable for the lies and half-truths they perpetrate.
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Dishonest is the key word here. An honest company wouldn't call something with 2% avocado guacamole, plain and simple.
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I'm not sure why you find it astonishing? Most fruit juices on the market today, or at least the shelf stable ones contain less than 10%, some even 2% real fruit juice but it is still called fruit juice. I see this as being no different.
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Ur right, but the labels clearly state "10% Fruit Juice." By the same token, Kraft should put on their labels "2% Avocado"
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Guacamole IS avocado, plus a little seasoning. Any more than salt, lime juice, maybe minced onion, MAYBE tomato; then you get "Avocado Dip".
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A while back, Taco bell had some green stuff in their taco that they weren't allowed to call guacamole....I don't remember what they had to call it...maybe avocado sauce or something. Maybe someone can help me. Personally, I have only had store bought guacamole once and it was OBVIOUSLY not made with much of any avocado....nor was it at all palatable. As far as the lawsuit, it is fair to ask for your money back, it is not fair to sue them...come one. As far as how to change things....if its gross, don't buy it...it will eventually go away. People seriously underestimate the power of the consumer. These big corporations aren't out to get us, they are out to get our money and if we don't give it to them, they will abandon what they are doing and try something else.
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"People seriously underestimate the power of the consumer."
I think the savviness of the consumer is underestimated. People do not always read food labels, nor should they have to, if buying a product simply called "guacamole". Like others have said, that implies that avocado is included as an ingredient. I'm guessing that 99% of the people who bought the Kraft guacamole didn't read the ingredient list and assumed it included avocado. And, if they liked the way it tasted, they'd probably buy it again never realizing the lack of avocado. And so Kraft would continue selling a product that was basically duping those who bought it.
The end result of this lawsuit (regardless of who wins or whether it's settled) is that Kraft will change the labelling of the product. As a result consumers will be better informed when deciding whether to buy Kraft "guacamole" without having to read the ingredient list to make sure it actually contains avocado. If that change necessitated a lawsuit, then so be it.
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Someone must like it the way it is if it is still on the shelf. If the ingredients are correctly listed, they did nothing wrong. Should someone buy a refrigerator without looking at the specifications? I generally don't buy food without looking at the ingredients. I think asking for your money back from the company and not buying it anymore are fair solutions. A lawsuit is silly and a waste of our judicial system.
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Do you really read the ingredient list of every food item that you buy? How much time do you devote to grocery shopping? I really resent having to spend so much time in order to weed out the garbage.
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I never buy anything without reading the label, but some of my friends can't read the fine print if they've forgotten to bring their reading glasses.
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Even with my reading glasses I can't always read the fine print and I don't feel that I should have to police the food purveyers.
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Yep, I always do. Grocery shopping is a big deal for me. I compare prices, ingredients, nutrition labels. I save a lot of money and buy the best quality of whatever it is I'm buying for the price. But then again, I'm a stay at home mom and I feel like its my job to provide the best food for my family for the lowest price. It's a job I take very seriously!!! I feel horribly guilty watching my 2 year old eat anything partially hydrogenated!
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Do you read the ingredient list for things like "orange juice," "milk," or "leek and potato soup"? If I bought a can of leek and potato soup and found it had little to no leeks and potatoes, I would feel ripped off too, regardless of whether I read the label or not. Guacamole = avocado, not "generic green dip."
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Yes, some of us actually do read labels for basic foods and it can be an eye-opening experience. One day this summer I just got curious and read the Land O'Lakes butter package. The ingredients were: sweet cream, natural flavors. This really bugs me - what other flavors does butter need? Also, soy products can fall into the "natural flavors" category. Is LOL boosting their butter by adding soy? Are they using "natural flavors" to mask off-tastes in their butter? And since percentages aren't listed, they might be throwing a whole lot of those "natural flavors" into their butter.
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