Packaging of Helados Mexico Paletas Misleads Buyers as to Where Treat Is Made, Class Action Claims

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A proposed class action lawsuit argues that Tropicale Foods’ marketing and advertising of its Helados Mexico-brand paletas give consumers the false impression that the traditionally fresh fruit and milk treats are actually made in Mexico.

The 13-page lawsuit out of New York claims Tropicale Foods’ labeling of the product, which includes the phrase “THE DELICIOUS TASTE OF MEXICO – NATURALLY,” “PALETA DE CREMA” and an image of a traditional, brightly colored pushcart, fails to adequately identify its true manufacturing location—Ontario, California. Per the suit, the product’s location of origin is disclosed in fine print on the side of its packaging.

According to the lawsuit, the defendant’s paletas, a treat the suit says dates back to the 1940s and the Mexico City market, lack the “type and quality of ingredients” historically associated with the product, and are not made via traditional methods. Reasonable consumers rely on companies to truthfully describe the components, features and attributes of a product, the case stresses, and Tropicale Foods has sold more of its paletas and at higher prices than it would have absent its advertising misconduct, the lawsuit alleges. 

“The value of the Product that plaintiff purchased was materially less than its value as represented by defendant,” the case contends.

Per the suit, consumers today increasingly seek out brands that are genuine, such as whisky from Scotland and sake from Japan. For many buyers, “authenticity has overtaken quality as the prevailing purchasing criterion,” the case posits, and consumers are willing to pay a premium price for what they believe to be an authentic product associated with a specific place, “such as Mexico for Defendant’s paletas,” the lawsuit says. 

“In the present instance, consumers expect Defendant’s paletas to be made in Mexico and contain the unique characteristics of paletas made there,” the complaint reads. 

Contrary to Tropicale Foods’ representations, however, the paletas are not made in Mexico, the lawsuit says, contending that proposed class members would not have bought the product, or would have paid less, had they “known the truth.”

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