Kraft Mac & Cheese Faces Another Class Action Lawsuit — Details Here

A federal judge ruled that a class action lawsuit against Kraft Heinz, the maker of the popular Kraft Mac & Cheese product, will proceed to federal court. The class action lawsuit, filed in December 2023, alleges that Kraft Heinz deceived consumers into believing their Kraft Mac & Cheese was free of harmful additives.

This is certainly not the first lawsuit against a major brand over claims of false advertising.

If you have consumed Kraft Mac & Cheese in the past year, you might want to pay attention. Below, we explain the details of the lawsuit, what the complainants allege of the company, and why consumers are so frustrated with Kraft Heinz and their marketing claims.

According to USA TODAY, a class action lawsuit was filed in December 2023 alleging that Kraft Heinz deceived consumers about its mac & cheese. Per the lawsuit, Kraft Heinz is alleged to have falsely portrayed Kraft Mac & Cheese as being free of artificial flavors, as well as preservatives and dyes.

In actuality, according to the official court documents, the plaintiffs allege that the product contains synthetic "citric acid, sodium phosphate, and/or sodium triphosphate."

The court documents, dated Nov. 12, state that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has warned food manufacturers for their use of the word "natural" in their branding when citric acid is included as a preservative in the ingredients. Yet, Kraft Heinz has marketed Kraft Mac & Cheese as including “No Artificial Flavors, Preservatives, or Dyes.”

In response to the lawsuit, Kraft Heinz sought a motion to dismiss. However, per Reuters, Chicago-based U.S. District Judge Mary M. Rowland concluded that the class action lawsuit will proceed to federal court.

Despite Kraft Heinz seeking to dismiss, in the analysis portion of the court documents, Judge Rowland declared the "Plaintiffs have adequately alleged the Ingredients are artificial," and that "It is inappropriate to strike Plaintiffs’ nationwide class allegations at the pleading stage."

However, as NBC Chicago explains, Judge Rowland sided with Kraft Heinz on the matter of the plaintiffs being disallowed from claiming future injury due to the preservatives within the product.

"Plaintiffs are aware of the presence of the allegedly artificial preservatives and thus do not face any future harm from the Products," per the court documents.

Thus, because of Judge Rowland's decisions in both parties' favor, the Kraft Heinz (aka the defendant) motions were both "granted in part and denied in part," according to the court documents. It is unclear at this point when the next court date will be.

In 2022, a separate class action lawsuit was filed against Kraft Heinz for claiming that their Velveeta Shells & Cheese product couldn't be prepared in 3.5 minutes, as the directions claimed. Per CNN, a judge dismissed that lawsuit in July 2023.

If you are wondering if you can participate in the current, ongoing class action lawsuit, you must wait, according to The Daily Dot. Once the lawsuit is settled, per The Daily Dot, an official would then request documentation from consumers who believe they are entitled to compensation.

No, Kraft Mac & Cheese is not being recalled. Per Newsweek, in September 2024, the FDA issued a recall on macaroni and cheese products manufactured by Reser's Fine Foods. The Reser's Fine Foods macaroni and cheese products are said to be spoiled due to improper refrigeration.

It is worth noting that over 6.5 million boxes of Kraft Mac & Cheese were recalled in 2015, however, due to consumers finding metal in the product, per SupplySide's Supplement Journal.