PepsiCo Falsely Advertised Siete, Tostitos ‘Avocado Oil’ Chips, Class Action Lawsuit Alleges

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A proposed class action lawsuit alleges that PepsiCo has falsely represented on product labels that certain Siete and Tostitos ‘Avocado Oil’ chips are made exclusively with avocado oil.

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The 27-page lawsuit contends that despite PepsiCo's prominent label implication that certain Siete and Tostitos potato and tortilla chips are made solely with avocado oil, independent testing has confirmed that the products, in truth, contain a blend of “undisclosed oils rather than avocado oil alone.”

The products at issue in the lawsuit include Siete Kettle Cooked Sea Salt Potato Chips Made with Avocado Oil, Siete Maiz Sea Salt Corn Tortilla Chips Made with Avocado Oil, and Simply Tostitos Sea Salt & Avocado Oil Tortilla Chips.

Per the complaint, avocado oil is widely regarded as a healthier, premium oil because of its nutritional profile and culinary properties, and consumers are willing to pay more for products they believe are made solely with avocado oil. 

However, the case states that in a 2026 peer-reviewed study, researchers from the University of California Davis extracted oil from the potato and tortilla chips at issue and found that they “lacked the chemical composition of authentic avocado oil.” 

The filing says that avocado oil has a “distinctive” fatty-acid and sterol composition that serves as a “reliable chemical fingerprint” for the oil, but researchers determined oil from the Siete and Tostitos chips had a chemical profile indicating it had been diluted with other oils.

Consumers would not know that the “avocado oil” chips contain other oils by reading the ingredients list, the case points out. The filing emphasizes that consumers are not expected to “scour” the ingredients list on the back of the chips to “confirm or debunk” representations that they are exclusively made with avocado oil.

Further, the case says that discovering that the chips contain a blend of oils would require a chemistry knowledge beyond that of the average consumer.

The suit argues that due to PepsiCo’s misleading representations that the products only contained avocado oil, consumers paid a premium price for chips that were worth less than what they paid.

The class action lawsuit looks to cover all consumers in the United States who purchased the Siete or Tostitos “Avocado Oil” chips during the relevant time period.

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