A Florida woman has filed a putative class action against Kraft Heinz Foods Co. alleging the company misleads consumers as to the cook time of its Velveeta-brand microwavable macaroni and cheese product. Ramirez v. Kraft Heinz Foods Co., No. 22-23782 (S.D. Fla., filed November 18, 2022).

The woman alleged that consumers seeing claims that the product will be “ready in 3 ½ minutes” will believe it represents the total amount of time needed to prepare the product.

“However, the directions outlined above show that 3-and-a-half minutes is just the length of time to complete one of several steps,” she said in her complaint, pointing out that the label does not state that the product takes 3 ½ minutes to cook in the microwave.

“To provide consumers with a Product that is actually ‘ready in 3½ minutes,’ the Product would need to be cooked in the microwave for less than 3-and-a-half minutes, so that all the preparation steps could be completed in the 3-and-a-half minutes timeframe,” she asserts.

The plaintiff is alleging violations of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, Florida’s False and Misleading Advertising law, and other state consumer fraud acts, among other claims. She is seeking class certification, injunctive relief, damages and costs and expenses including attorney’s fees.

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