A Minnesota-based cookware company has been accused of deceptively labeling its products as being "Made in the USA" despite the material being sourced from Canada.

The class action lawsuit filed April 11 alleges Nordic Ware's claims that its products are American-made are false and misleading because "virtually all" of the materials used to make aluminum are mined overseas and the processing of the material into aluminum happened in Canada.

The plaintiff, a man from New York, claims he would have never bought nearly $45 worth of Nordic Ware's product had he known the aluminium had not been sourced and manufactured in the USA. He says he paid "an additional amount" for the product based on Nordic Ware's "Made in the USA" claim.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, "Made in USA" means "all or virtually all" of the product has been made in America. 

"That is all significant parts, processing and labor that go into the product must be of U.S. origin," the federal agency says. 

In one example provided in the lawsuit, the FTC says that if the gold in a gold ring is imported, claiming the ring was made in America is deceptive because the gold, which is an integral component, is "only one step back from the finished article."

Without aluminium and bauxite, a rock with high aluminium content, the lawsuit claims, Nordic Ware would not be able to manufacture its products. Additionally, it is noted that no bauxite mined in the United States has been used to make aluminum since 1981, and bauxite is not mined in Canada.

"...It is virtually impossible to source U.S.-mined bauxite and U.S.-made aluminum in the United States," the lawsuit says. "As such, the aluminium used in Defendant's products necessarily must be sourced from foreign nations."

Last month, Nordic Ware CEO David Dalquist told WCCO his company caters "to the people that appreciate American-made products."

Dalquist said the aluminium used in Nordic Ware's products is sourced from Canada in the form of 5,000-pound coils and processed at a factory in Wisconsin.

On its website, Nordic Ware says its "Made in America" label "signifies a deep-rooted commitment to providing American jobs that support families and their communities."

Nordic Ware provided WCCO with the following statement:

"Nordic Ware has proudly manufactured its beloved kitchenware products in Minnesota for nearly 80 years, using aluminum sourced from US metal mills and employing thousands of US workers during that time.

"A California attorney has filed a class action suit alleging that we may have misled consumers by labeling our products as being Made in the USA because bauxite, a naturally occurring ore in the earth's crust and source of aluminum, is no longer mined or refined in the US. Instead, the initial processing of raw bauxite ore is often done in Canada before sending raw aluminum ingot to large US mills where the substantial transformation of the raw aluminum ingot actually takes place to make it useable for manufacturing.

"Nordic Ware purchases its metal from these large US-based aluminum mills. Here in the USA the raw ingot is melted, alloyed, cast, hot rolled, annealed, cold rolled to a specified thickness and surface finish, and finally coiled up.

"Nordic Ware intends to vigorously defend itself against this newly-filed suit. It also believes the Complaint lacks any merit because Nordic Ware's manufacturing processes, as well as the complex fabrication and transformation of raw aluminum ingot into a useful material, actually takes place within the USA using domestic labor.

"Worth noting are well-established rules which must be followed for "Country of Origin" statements that US Customs and Border Protection and most other countries ' customs agencies require on products being imported or exported. Specifically, manufacturers must declare the country of origin (typically being where the last substantial conversion or transformation of the item takes place) and mark their products accordingly. In our case, we must declare our products as having been made in the USA and we mark our pans as such.

"We will vigorously defend our position on this and remain proud to manufacture our products in the USA, employing American workers and using aluminum sourced from US mills."