Ferrero U.S.A. Inc., the maker of Nutella, has just settled a $2.5 million lawsuit.
The class action lawsuit was brought against the company by a mother in California who was “shocked” to see that Nutella was advertised as a healthy food. Ferrero said that it stood by its product and its advertisements, but has agreed to settle the Nutella lawsuit for close to $3 million.
A spokeswoman for the company said: “We stand behind the quality and ingredients of Nutella hazelnut spread and the advertising of our product.”
CTV reports that the money will be spread around to anyone who bought Nutella between August 2009 and January 2012. The company has also said that it would change Nutella’s label and stop running “misleading” ads.
Athena Hohenberg, the lead plaintiff in the case, said that Ferrero’s advertisements for the chocolate spread led her to believe that Nutella was a nutritious product.
The complaint read:
“Ms. Hohenberg was surprised and upset to learn that Nutella was in fact not a ‘healthy’ ‘nutritious’ food but instead a product wsith the nutritional properties of a candy bar, with very high levels of refined sugar and saturated fat. Had Ms. Hohenberg known the truth about Nutella’s qualities, she would not have purchased it for her family.”
Nutella said that it will now put the fat, sugar, and calorie information on the front of the label.
Are you surprised that Nutella isn’t healthy? Are you surprised that someone thought Nutella was nutritious?
