NEW YORK — The US Southern District of New York Court March 31 dismissed a lawsuit claiming Kellogg Co. exaggerated the amount of strawberries in Frosted Strawberry Pop-Tarts through misleading labeling. The court ruled plaintiff Kelvin Brown failed to plead that a reasonable consumer would find the front label misleading.

Mr. Brown filed the lawsuit Sept. 5, 2020, saying the front of the package exaggerated the amount of strawberries in the product by showing an image of half a strawberry and an image of the product revealing a dark red fruit filling. The front label omits pears and apples, but the two fruits are found on the ingredient list. The lawsuit also stated a synthetic food coloring, Red No. 40, gave the strawberry-pear-apple combination in the filling a dark red color. If Mr. Brown would have known about the alleged misrepresentations, he would not have purchased the product or would have paid less for it, according to the lawsuit.

Kellogg moved to dismiss the case on April 16, 2021, contending the front label does not represent that strawberries are the only fruit ingredient in the filling, that the filling contains a specific quantity or proportion of strawberries, that the filling contains ade minimisamount of non-strawberry fruits, or that the product has nutritional benefits derived solely from strawberries. Kellogg also contended the ingredient list resolves any ambiguity about fruit ingredients in the filling and the use of red food coloring does not exaggerate the amount of strawberries in the filling.