Kroger will pay $1.25 million to settle a California lawsuit alleging the company cut the calorie counts on several of its Kroger-branded Carbmaster bread products, the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office said in a press release Monday.
The lawsuit specifically accused Kroger of violating California’s False Advertising and Unfair Competition laws, claiming the company labeled five varieties of Carbmaster bread with inaccurate calorie information, both on the product packaging and in online listings.
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The products were sold at Kroger-owned Ralphs, Food 4 Less and Foods Co. stores throughout California, the district attorney’s office said.
According to prosecutors, Kroger initially miscalculated the calorie content of the products when they were introduced in 2021 and displayed incorrect calorie values on both FDA nutrition labels and front-of-package advertising.
Investigators alleged that even after consumers complained and Kroger corrected the information on the nutrition labels, it “continued advertising the substantially lower, incorrect calorie value on the consumer-facing portions of the packaging for at least six months,” the district attorney’s office said Monday…