Nutella health claims net $3.05 million settlement in class-action lawsuit

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(CBS News) Is Nutella, the popular chocolate-hazelnut spread, actually good for you? A class-action lawsuit over the spread's purported health claims has just been settled, with a judge siding with a parent who says she was duped into believing it was good for her kids.

Nutella-maker Ferrero USA, Inc. will pay out $3.05 million as part of the settlement, with $2.5 million to be divided among consumers who file a claim, the New York Daily News reported.

As part of the settlement, anyone in the U.S. who purchased Nutella between January 1, 2008 and February 3, 2012 (or for Calif. residents between August 1, 2009 and January 23, 2012) can file a claim. People can claim their purchases until July 5, 2012 and expect $4 for a single purchase and up to 5 jars for a maximum award of $20 per household.

NPR reported last year that California mom Athena Hohenberg proposed a class-action suit against Ferrero stating that she had fed her 4-year-old daughter Nutella after seeing advertisements that suggested the spread was part of a healthy breakfast. Hohenberg was reportedly shocked to find out it contained 21 grams of sugar, 200 calories, and 11 grams of fat (3.5 of which are saturated) per serving.

"Nutella was in fact not a 'healthy' 'nutritious' food but instead was the next best thing to a candy bar," read the complaint.

That lawsuit was met with some ridicule across the web by people who were surprised to hear someone thought a chocolate-based spread could be construed as healthy.

"Here's a suggestion for the thousands of other litigious California mothers: Try a little responsible parenting. Try reading the labels and understanding what they mean," read a blog from LA Weekly.

"Nutella isn't the breakfast demon that Hohenberg and others make it out to be, certainly not when consumed as advertised," read a blog from Slate.

But it appears a judge sided with Hohenberg. Ferrero also agreed to change its marketing campaign, modify the Nutella label to state fat and sugar content on the front of the jar and will create new television ads, and change the company website

A call placed to Fererro USA, Inc. in Somerset, N.J.,  was not returned at press time.

Were you fooled by the ads? Take a look at one of the commercials in question. What do you think?

[rcpmac]

The ad states Nutella is made from hazel nuts, skim milk and a hint of coca.
Also frames it as a good addition to your healthy (whole wheat) breakfast menu.
Truth is it is made primarily from sugar and hydrogenated palm oil.
Anyone not seeing the deception in this ad is blind.
The decision is under appeal and will be upheld unless it goes to the supreme clowns - then all bets are off.

[Stix_n_Stonz]

I still think this ruling is a bunch of horse BLEEP! Almost EVERYONE is afraid to take responsibility for their own freakin'actions. You shoveled the CHOCOLATE IN (FATTY)! No one held a gun to your head to eat this OH SO DELICIOUS SPREAD! If this woman is SO FLIPPIN' DUMB to think that a CHOCOLATE BASED spread was NUTRITIOUS...then her kid deserves to blow up into a blimp like Augustus Gloop (the BIG FAT GREEDY NIN-COM-POOP)!!! MORONS!!!!

[DANS777]

GROW UP AMERICA AND LEARN TO READ good lord lets all sue EVERYONE GET A LIFE!!! Nutella has been around for over TEN YEARS and you just now realized it was what is is. Guess Green Day was right AMERICAN IDIOTS!!!

[livingtxlife]

I'm with you - enjoyed Nutella during my days in Europe and was so happy when I finally saw it in America years ago. Of course we can't take responsibility for anything in our lives these days so this was bound to happen.

Take commercials with a grain of salt you nutters!

[pdchapin]

Compared to most spreads, it really isn't that bad. Less saturated fat than butter and less sugar that most jams. In fact it was recommended by a nutritionist during a seminar for people who had a heart attack and were looking for alternatives to butter on their bread.

Besides, I didn't see a health claim in the ad.

[tmonta67]

Nutella has been misleading the public for years in Europe. Check out this link and tell me they're not saying it's healthy:

http://www.wakeuptonutella.co.uk/faqs.php

[fidelamos]

"My response to this RIDICULOUS lawsuit was too long to type here in this comment section, so I had to make it a blog entry..!"

http://fidelamos.com/2012/04/28/fidelis-maximus-vs-the-nutella-lawsuit/

- F

[tmonta67]

Nutella has come under fire here in France over the last few years as being incredibly unhealthy: way too much sugar and fat. It's been a cultural staple for kids' snacks on bread, was touted as "healthy", and Ferrero did this willingly. Nutella also contains a dangerous phtalate, dehp, which messes up your hormonal system, as well as GMO:

http://www.sleemy.net/Nutella-E.html

There's a real campaign going on here to get people to reduce their intake of it-but i'ts like telling an American to stop eating peanut butter: if you like it and were raised on it, very hard to stop.



Sorry it's in French, but you get the idea.

[tmonta67]

Changed link to an English one

[kathybonyun]

So, is this what I'm hearing...this woman said she doesn't want to have to READ, and was then paid for it? Am I in the right country? I thought I was living in the one that was founded on the idea that democracy is dependent on literate, free-thinking citizens. What would Ben Franklin think about this state of affairs?

[jaykay3141]

Literate and free-thinking? Suppose Ben the printer and editor were able to see the mangled spelling and grammar in so many posts, or Ben the philosopher and scientist could slog through the oceans of "truthiness" and tortured illogic that passes for analysis on the Web I'm sure he'd immediately crawl back into his crypt in Philadelphia.

But having read a bit about his love life, I do wonder what he'd make of John Edwards...

[Monikahau]

I like to sue that greedy, lazy a.. mom trying to make the big bucks by suing others. Nutrition labels are on every product, even my kids 8 and 10 years old know how to read them.

[phorkandspune]

I think she got $20. It's the legal firm that filed the class action suit that got a $1.5 million payoff. Lazy mother just sounds like an Obama voter who wants the courts and a big government bureaucracy to protect her from her own stupidity and impcompetance. Really, how can anyone grow up in a consumer society and not appreciate the fact that ALL advertising has some element of deception? I learned that in H.S. Journalism.

[tallchick1955]

At no point in this commercial does it state Nutella is a healthy breakfast food. They say it's a good way to get your children to eat breakfast. Reading is awesome, too bad there are so many illiterates in this country, especially in CA!

[mamalitaa]

Hmm, Let's all get our cereal boxes out and run to the courthouse!

How many commercials do you see now and in past years telling us how healthy their product is..and we knew it was a crock, but we bought it anyway.

Read Labels, Commercials say anything to sell a product.

[livingtxlife]

Crappy juices, jams, cereals, bread loaded with crap...

Few fruit and vegetables have commercials. I wonder how in the world we know to eat them if there isn't a commercial telling us?