While nobody may not like Sara Lee, a new class action says some people would like Sara Lee’s “All Butter Pound Cakes” more if the frozen cakes didn’t also include soybean oil.
On April 27, attorney Ben Barnow and others with the firms of Barnow & Associates, of Chicago, and Steckler Wayne Cochran, of Dallas, filed a class action complaint in Cook County Circuit Court against Sara Lee Frozen Bakery LLC.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of named plaintiff Bobbie Grayer, identified only as a resident of Cook County, who purchased Sara Lee's cakes.
The complaint accuses Sara Lee Frozen Bakery of allegedly falsely marketing its frozen pound cakes as containing “all butter.” The complaint asserts this will make consumers more likely to purchase the cakes.
“Consumers prefer butter to chemically-produced ‘vegetable’ oils when baking for reasons including taste, health, and avoidance of highly processed artificial substitutes for butter,” the complaint said.
Further, they assert “butter costs more than vegetable oil alternatives, such as soybean or canola oil.”
While the cakes contain butter, the complaint asserts “butter is not the only shortening ingredient” in the cakes.
Specifically, the complaint asserts the cakes contain soybean oil and a food coloring designed to give the cakes “a yellowish-hue,” that “bolsters (Sara Lee’s) misrepresentation that the product contains more butter than it does.”
The complaint said the cakes’ “branding and packaging … is designed to – and does – deceive, mislead, and defraud” customers.
The complaint accuses Sara Lee of violating the Illinois consumer fraud law, and of breach of express warranty.
The plaintiffs seek to expand the action to include everyone in Illinois who purchased Sara Lee All Butter Pound Cakes since January 2016.
The plaintiffs are seeking unspecified compensatory damages, or an order requiring Sara Lee to “disgorge or pay restitution of its ill-gotten gains,” plus attorney fees. They are also seeking a court order blocking Sara Lee from continuing to label its pound cakes as “all butter.”