Target Overstates Number of Servings in Market Pantry Coffee Creamer Canister, Class Action Alleges

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A proposed class action lawsuit alleges Target has overstated the number of servings in 35.3 oz containers of its Market Pantry Original Coffee Creamer by understating the gram-weight equivalent of one teaspoon to make it appear that each canister contains more powder than it actually does.

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The 40-page complaint contends that Target has effectively shorted consumers by at least 13.3 percent of the advertised number of servings in each container of its private-label powdered coffee creamer, causing buyers to pay for roughly 66 to 83 servings that they never receive in a product labeled and advertised as containing about 500 servings.

According to the complaint, the alleged deception is rooted in Target listing a serving size of the powdered creamer as one teaspoon, or two grams, on the product’s nutrition facts panel. However, the case says that independent testing commissioned by the plaintiff in January 2024 found that this equivalency is inaccurate and that a teaspoon of the creamer weighs more than two grams.

“…[T]wo independent laboratories’ testing of the Product found (1) the ‘servings’ claim on the Product was false and misleading because the Product was short at least 13.31% of the promised one teaspoon servings; and (2) the stated equivalency that one teaspoon of the Product was the same as two grams of the Product was false,” the filing summarizes.

Related Reading: Kellogg Class Action Lawsuit Claims Froot Loops Serving Size Falsely Advertised

The case points to the Code of Federal Regulations, which governs how serving sizes and the number of servings per product must be determined and disclosed. These rules rely on a Reference Amount Customarily Consumed (RACC), or the amount consumed by the average adult, which the Food and Drug Administration sets as two grams for powdered coffee creamers, the complaint relays.

Because consumers do not typically measure intake in grams, manufacturers must convert this amount into a more appropriate household unit, like teaspoons, before calculating servings per container, the filing says.

The lawsuit alleges that Target’s conversion from grams to teaspoons was erroneous.

In particular, because the product’s “true weight” per teaspoon supposedly exceeds two grams, per independent testing, federal rounding rules require that products weighing between two and five grams be rounded to the nearest half gram, the lawsuit states. As a result, the weight of the creamer should be 2.5 grams, the suit contends, making one teaspoon an inaccurate serving size, the suit claims.

If calculated correctly, the number of servings per canister of Market Pantry Original Coffee Creamer powder would be closer to roughly 417 to 434 servings, well below the label claim of “about 500 servings” and beyond the allowable variance margin.

Because the serving size is incorrect, nearly all nutrient label values for the product—such as calories, sugar, fat, cholesterol, vitamins and others—may also be skewed, the suit notes.

The Target class action lawsuit looks to represent all consumers who purchased the 35.3 oz Market Pantry Original Coffee Creamer from a brick-and-mortar Target store in the state of New York for personal, family or household use during the period beginning at the earliest date allowed by law to April 23, 2025.

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