Trader Joe’s has asked a federal judge in California to dismiss a class action lawsuit being brought by consumers claiming that the U.S. retailer filled its canned tuna with less than its labeled amount of product.
Four class action lawsuits against Trader Joe’s were combined earlier in 2017 and the amended case focuses on allegations that Trader Joe’s regularly underfilled its five-ounce cans of store-brand tuna with between nine and 24 percent less tuna than is mandated by the FDA.
Trader Joe’s filed a motion in late July to dismiss the case, arguing that the complaints brought by the lawsuit must be enforced by the Food and Drug Administration under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act, and therefore “does not create a cause of action that private plaintiffs can bring in their own civil lawsuit,” according to Top Class Actions.
In its filing, Trader Joe’s acknowledged that its tuna cans do not refer to the “pressed weight standard,” which was introduced in 1957 and which the company called “obsolete.” However, the company said the cans are clearly labeled both with the five-ounce net weight and the four-ounce drained weight, “adequate to give customers a good idea of what they’re buying.”
