2024年食品与消费品包装行业诉讼年度回顾报告

Food & ConsumerPackaged Goods Litigation Table of Contents INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................................3 LEGAL TRENDS Food and Beverage.....................................................................................................................4Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG)........................................................................12Regulatory Developments Affecting the CPG Industry...........................................................16Pet Food...................................................................................................................................20Supplements.............................................................................................................................23Personal Care Products............................................................................................................26Proposition 65..........................................................................................................................33 ABOUT PERKINS COIE................................................................................................................37 Introduction Perkins Coie Releases Ninth Annual Food & Consumer Packaged Goods Litigation Year in Review. In 2024, class action filings against the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry reached a near high, with close tothree hundred lawsuits filed. This year was notable for the wide variety of kind of claims at issue — natural, proteincontent, multi-function ingredients, packaging fill, and sustainability claims. The combination of the pace and breadth oftheories suggests that these current trends will not abate soon. Once again, litigation activity remained vigorous around microcontaminants in the form of purportedly harmful tracesubstances—including heavy metals, phthalates, and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Because these filings havespread to courts nationwide, 2024 saw some uncertainty come into this area of the law with different courts coming todiffering conclusions as to whether and when it is actionable to misleadingly “omit” from the label the potential presenceof these trace substances. As in years past, in 2024, the “reasonable consumer” defense remained a key weapon in defendants’ arsenal, withencouraging developments in this area of the law. The Second Circuit explained that when a challenged claim is merelyambiguous, then resort to the full label — and its clarifying effect — is appropriate. Meanwhile, the Ninth Circuit helpfullyexplained that the use of asterisks on challenged claim, when linked to additional explanatory information, helps guardagainst potential liability under the “reasonable consumer” standard. The regulatory arena also remained active in 2024. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued numerousadvisory updates on food traceability, food imports, dietary supplements, food additives, and PFAS. Perkins Coieexpanded its regulatory capabilities in 2024 and is actively monitoring these and other developments in coordinationwith our litigation team to help ensure that today’s regulatory guidance does not turn into tomorrow’s threatenedclass action. In addition to this yearly overview, we monitor filings daily and provide real-time information to clients and key contactsvia our Food & Consumer Packaged Goods Litigation updates. To receive a daily email report about cases filed,Proposition 65 notices, and industry decisions, please emailKHale@perkinscoie.com. SECTION 1 Legal Trends in Foodand Beverage Legal Trends in Food and Beverage “Natural” Claims The same plaintiff’s attorneys also filed another classaction against Kraft Heinz for allegedly misleadingconsumers that its Velveeta macaroni and cheese ismade with “real cheese,” when the primary ingredientsare purportedly non-natural or otherwise lack theessential ingredients of “real cheese.”Martin Siscav. Kraft Heinz Food Co., Case No. 2:24-cv-00813,U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York(E.D.N.Y.). In 2024, there was continued attention on “natural” or“all natural” representations. In a New York federal court, a proposed class actioncomplaint was filed, alleging Ritz Bits cracker sandwicheswere misleading because they stated that the crackersandwich fillings were made with real cheese, whenthe filling’s main ingredient was whey. The challengedrepresentation was “Cheese flavored filling with othernatural flavor.” SeeFischetti v. Mondelez GlobalLLC, Case No. 2:24-cv-01135, U.S. District Court for theEastern District of New York (E.D.N.Y.). We also saw some notable decisions come out in2024. For example, in New York, a federal judge Legal Trends in Food and Beverage denied a motion to dismiss the plaintiffs’ claims that thedefendants deceptively marketed their POM Wonderful100% Pomegranate Juice drink as “All Natural,” when itactually contained P