Florida woman slaps $5M suit against Kraft saying it takes longer to prepare than packaging claims
TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA: A woman has decided to call out the "unreal" claims made by readymade giant Kraft. Amanda Ramirez from Florida has sued the company for around $5 million over their deceptive promotion where it states on Velveeta Shells & Cheese Microwavable Shell Pasta packaging "ready in 3½ minutes," however, she says it takes longer than the time frame mentioned by the food company, and that "constitutes fraud."
“To provide consumers with a Product that is actually 'ready in 3½ minutes' the Product would need to be cooked in the microwave for less than 3-and-a-half minutes so that all the preparation steps could be completed in the 3-and-a-half minutes timeframe,” as per the lawsuit filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The five instructions labeled on the packaging include removing the lid, adding water, and microwaving it, followed by stirring in a powdered cheese sauce which finally gets the cooked pasta ready. However, the tussle is on the fifth instruction, where it claims, "cheese sauce will thicken upon standing," which the legal suit says takes a longer "ready" time, according to NBC News.
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It reads, “Consumers seeing ‘ready in 3½ minutes’ will believe it represents the total amount of time it takes to prepare the Product. However, the directions outlined above show that 3-and-a-half minutes is just the length of time to complete one of several steps. The label does not state the Product takes ‘3½ minutes to cook in the microwave’, which would have been true.” The company has responded to the suit, where Kraft Heinz said in a statement to Today Food, “We are aware of this frivolous lawsuit and will strongly defend against the allegations in the complaint.”
According to Ramirez’s suit, “The members of the class Plaintiff seeks to represent are more than 100, because the Product has been sold with the representations described here from thousands of stores in the States covered by Plaintiff’s proposed classes. The plaintiff is asking for at least $5 million in damages, including statutory and punitive exclusive of interest and costs." As per the report, the legal document further reads, “Consumers are misled to expect the Product will be ready for consumption in a shorter amount of time than it really takes to prepare.”
Ramirez's legal filing against Kraft Heinz is "individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated," which is most likely head into a class action settlement, similar to a case of a 2020 suit against Anheuser-Busch over its ‘Ritas’ products not containing tequila in it.