Santa Barbara and Ventura District Attorney’s file joint civil complaint against The Kroger Company over alleged false advertising
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The Santa Barbara County and Ventura County district attorney's offices jointly filed a civil lawsuit against The Kroger Company alleging violations of state false advertising and unfair competition laws.
The Kroger Company operates multiple grocery store chains in the state including Ralph's, Food 4 Less, and Foods Co.
The complaint specifically alleges that Kroger falsely advertised the calorie content of its store-brand 'Carbmaster' bread products between November of 2018 to at least June of 2022.
Kroger advertised on the front-facing packaging of its 'Carbmaster Wheat' and 'Carbmaster White' that each slice within contained 30 calories when in fact each slice has 50 calories or more alleged the civil complaint.
An image of the packaging from the Ventura County District Attorney's Office is below.
Additionally, the complaint explains that before June of 2022, Kroger falsely advertised the calorie counts on both the front packaging as well as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) nutrition label on the back of the packaging.
Kroger also continues to advertise the lower calorie count packaging for the Carbmaster Wheat Bread on its website.
"Consumers rely on nutritional information to make important decisions about their personal health and well-being," said Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko. "For some consumers, these decisions are based upon medical necessity. False advertising of calories can mislead, or even endanger consumers, and it provides an unfair advantage over competitors who are advertising in compliance with FDA guidelines."
