The Northern District of California is one court in the US that commonly sees food labeling class actions alleging that consumers were misled by product packaging or labeling statements.  Consumers in these cases often seek significant statutory or other classwide damages in an attempt to aggregate dollars of purchases into millions of dollars in liability.  In one such recent case, the plaintiffs claimed that a product labeled as "Premier White Morsels" was deceptive because it implied that the product contained chocolate when it did not.  

Judge Beth Labson Freeman dismissed the claims at the end of last week finding that they could not mislead consumers because the word "chocolate" was not on the product label and "premier" is non-actionable puffery.  Unfortunately, the decision still allows the plaintiffs leave to amend their complaint, so it is possible the claims will be allowed to proceed if the plaintiffs can add further factual allegations.  In any case, this is a favorable ruling for manufacturers of consumer products that follows a recent trend of courts refusing to accept US plaintiffs' claims that they were misled by products with clear labels and ingredient statements.