Dietz & Watson’s ‘Smoked Gouda’ Not Actually Smoked, Class Action Claims

New to ClassAction.org? Read our Newswire Disclaimer

A proposed class action alleges the “Smoked Gouda” made and sold by Dietz & Watson, Inc. is misleadingly labeled in that the cheese gets its characterizing smoky flavor not from actually being smoked, but from the addition of “natural smoke flavoring.”

No reasonable consumer would expect a product labeled “smoked” without any qualifying terms—e.g., flavor, flavored, natural smoke flavor, artificial smoke flavor—to get its taste from an added flavor source, the 12-page lawsuit says, alleging buyers have been duped by the defendant’s product labeling.

“Defendant’s branding and packaging of the Product is designed to – and does – deceive, mislead, and defraud plaintiffs and consumers,” the complaint scathes.

The lawsuit asserts flavoring “is one of the most important and expensive ingredients” in food products, citing several studies concluding that the majority of consumers prefer to avoid artificial flavors. Per the case, consumers prefer foods with flavors obtained through the presence of a “characterizing food ingredient,” i.e. strawberries in a strawberry shortcake or from being smoked in a smokehouse.

Smoking is a method of food preparation during which the food is cooked over a fire containing various kinds of wood chips that provide “unique and powerful flavors,” the case explains.

Per the complaint, a reasonable consumer, upon reading the defendant’s “smoked gouda” representations, would not be “instinctively distrustful or skeptical” such that they would be inclined to confirm whether the cheese was actually smoked by checking for smoke flavoring in the product’s ingredients list.

“’Smoked Gouda’ that gets its smoked flavor from being smoked is not an unheard of or rare delicacy that it would make a reasonable consumer ‘double check’ the veracity of the prominent front label claims,” the case argues.

In truth, however, the product’s smoked taste comes from “Natural Smoke Flavoring,” as stated in the cheese’s ingredients list, the suit says.

According to the lawsuit, the value of Dietz & Watson’s “Smoked Gouda” is “materially less” than the company represents to consumers on the product’s label. Had consumers known the truth about the cheese’s flavoring, they would not have purchased the product or would have paid less for it, the lawsuit argues.

The plaintiff looks to represent anyone who purchased the defendant’s “Smoked Gouda” product in New York within the applicable statute of limitations period.

Get class action lawsuit news sent to your inbox – sign up for ClassAction.org’s newsletter here.