California Woman Files Lawsuit Claiming
Kraft's Guacamole Dip Doesn't Contain
Enough Avocado
LOS
ANGELES; Wholly guacamole
That's the issue in a fraud lawsuit filed
Wednesday against Kraft Foods, Inc., by
a Los Angeles woman who claims the company's
avocado dip doesn't qualify as guacamole.
"It just didn't taste avocadoey,"
said Brenda Lifsey, who used Kraft Dips
Guacamole in a three-layer dip last year.
"I looked at the ingredients and
found there was almost no avocado in it."
She is seeking unspecified damages and
a Superior Court order barring Kraft from
calling its dip guacamole. Her suit seeks
class-action status.
The Kraft product contains modified food
starch, coconut and soybean oils, corn
syrup and food coloring. It is less than
2 percent avocado, which in traditional
recipes is the main ingredient of the
Mexican dish.
The government doesn't have any requirements
on how much avocado a product must contain
to be labeled guacamole, said Michael
Herndon, a spokesman for the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration.
Northfield, Ill.-based Kraft said it had
not seen the lawsuit but believed it was
not deceiving anyone.
"We think customers understand that
it isn't made from avocado," Claire
Regan, Kraft Foods' vice president of
corporate affairs, told the Los Angeles
Times. "All of the ingredients are
listed on the label for consumers to reference."
However, the company will relabel the
product to make it clearer that the dip
is guacamole-flavored, Regan said.
Associated Press