Friday, April 01, 2011
Four women from New Jersey are suing Campbell Soup for implying that its low-sodium soup contains less salt that its regular tomato soup. The plaintiffs insist the more expensive specialty soup does not have 25% less sodium, as Campbell leads consumers to believe.
Although Campbell does not dispute the sodium level of its “less sodium” tomato soup, the company claims that when they said the low-sodium tomato soup had 25% less sodium, they meant in comparison with other non-tomato soups, not just their regular tomato soup.
The soup company tried to get the class-action lawsuit dismissed, but U.S. District Judge Jerome Simandle ruled that, according to New Jersey’s consumer fraud law, the women have a strong enough case for it to proceed to trial.
-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky
Sodium Suit Is 'Mmm, Mmm, Good' for Trial (Courthouse News Service)
Rosa Smajlaj v. Campbell Soup Company (U.S. District Court, New Jersey) (pdf)
Soup Label Conundrum: Less is Sometimes More (by Michael Finney, ABC7-San Francisco) (video)
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