Certain Mom’s Best Cereals Not Made with ‘Real Honey’ as Advertised, Class Action Alleges

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A proposed class action claims the maker of Mom’s Best breakfast cereals has misled consumers by marketing its Honey Nut Toasty O’s and Honey Grahams products as made with real honey.

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The 16-page lawsuit says that despite the front-label claim that the cereals are “[m]ade with real honey,” the ingredients lists indicate that the products are, in fact, predominantly sweetened with sugar and other sweetening agents, such as molasses, brown sugar syrup, fructose and dextrose.

Per the suit, the packaging of Honey Nut Toasty O’s represents that the product is “[n]aturally flavored sweetened whole grain oat cereal with real honey,” while the Honey Grahams box claims to contain “[s]weetened whole grain wheat and corn cereal.” The case alleges that these representations are misleading, arguing that the use of the word “sweetened” alongside the “whole grain” statement “gives rise to the reasonable impression that, like its whole grain content, the product’s primary sweetener is similarly a healthier substitute to regular sugar—i.e., ‘real honey.’”

The complaint contends that because the items’ labeling would mislead a reasonable consumer to believe that the cereals contain more honey than they actually do, the products are misbranded under federal law.

By marketing the products at issue as “healthier alternative[s] to other traditional cereals,” Post Consumer Brands—the company behind Mom’s Best—seeks to capitalize on the desire of health-conscious shoppers for clean, wholesome food items, the filing claims.

“As such, consumers rely on [the defendant’s] brand due to its purported health properties; and are willing to pay additional money as a result,” the lawsuit relays. “But [the company] does not deliver on those promises when it comes to the premium it commands from its purportedly honey-sweetened products.”

The plaintiff, a New York resident who last purchased Honey Nut Toasty O’s in August of this year, says she believed, based on the representations, that the cereal was at least predominantly sweetened with honey. The woman claims she would not have bought the cereal had she known it was, in fact, primarily made with sugar and other sweetening agents.

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone in the United States who purchased Mom’s Best Honey Nut Toasty O’s or Honey Grahams cereal for personal use and not for resale within the applicable statute of limitations period.

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