Kroger Class Action: Carbmaster Bread Calorie Counts Under Fire

Kroger has been caught allegedly buttering up the truth about the calories in its CARBmaster breads, meaning calorie counting consumers can’t count on the company due to its false advertising, according to a new lawsuit. And it’s not just one consumer behind the legal action, but the state of California. 

The state alleges in the lawsuit that a number of the CARBmaster bread products have bright, large-font labels on the front of the packaging stating a calorie count that is 20 to 50 percent lower than reality. The issue has been in play since at least 2018, according to the lawsuit.

State of California Slams Kroger for Alleged Deception of Health-Conscious Consumers

Represented by the District Attorney of Santa Barbara County John T. Savrnoch and the District Attorney of Ventura County Erik Nasarenko, the state accuses Kroger, which has at least 321 stores in California, of unlawful and unfair business practices. 

“California consumers are entitled to rely on the nutrient information advertised on packaging when making decisions about what products to buy,” the lawsuit states.

The state alleges Kroger, which includes subsidiaries such as Ralph’s, Foods Co, and Food 4 Less, of violating laws that are “inimical to the health, safety, welfare, rights, and interests of the general public as consumers, competitors, and citizens.”

CARBmaster Bread's Nutritional Claims Don't Add Up

CARBmaster products are marketed as a healthy alternative to other brands of milks, yogurts, breads, and the bread products include wheat bread, white bread, multi-seed bread, hamburger buns, and hotdog buns. 

According to the lawsuit, for a period of time following November 2018, both the front labeling and FDA Nutrition Facts panel on the back of the packaging Kroger listed a number of the bread products with a much lower calorie count than what the products actually contained. While it updated the back nutritional panel at some stage, it has continued to list the wrong information on the front label.

“For example, Defendant marketed both CARBmaster Wheat Bread and CARBmaster White Bread as containing only 30 calories per slice, when, in fact, the FDA panel on the rear of the package stated 50 calories per slice,” the lawsuit states. 

In a “particularly egregious instance,” the hamburger buns were listed as having 50 calories when they have 100 calories, according to the lawsuit. 

Consumer Complaints Trigger Investigation

It was consumers that first alerted the state to the alleged false advertising, with those complaints spurring an investigation from the Attorney General’s Office. The investigator visited a Ralph’s store in Santa Barbara in 2022 and saw a CARBmaster White Bread displayed on the shelf with the false 30 calories per slice labels, according to the lawsuit. 

The state contacted Kroger in October 2022 to alert the company to the issue, but in December 2023 the state found the false advertising was still ongoing, the lawsuit alleges. “Despite this notice, Defendant continues to this day to market at least one CARBmaster product on its website to California consumers with “30 calories per slice.”

CARBmaster Bread Lawsuit Adds to Growing List of Allegations

Kroger currently faces multiple lawsuits across various aspects of its business. In addition to this recent lawsuit, the company settled a class action in January involving assistant managers alleging unpaid overtime wages, only to be hit with a second similar suit in May by assistant manager Thomas Schell and approximately 1,500 former Kroger assistant managers over back pay.

Furthermore, Kroger is dealing with a proposed class action from online pharmacy patients claiming unauthorized sharing of their protected health data with third parties, including Meta. Another class action targets the company's lidocaine patches, which allegedly fail to provide the advertised hours of relief and peel off prematurely.

In May, a federal judge allowed a class action lawsuit to proceed, accusing Kroger's Simple Truth baby food brand products of being contaminated with heavy metals. Additionally, last September, Kroger paid $1.4 billion to settle lawsuits related to its pharmacy division's role in the opioid crisis, with a lead lawyer for the plaintiffs emphasizing the industry's responsibility to fund solutions to the crisis it helped create.

In the Kroger CARBmaster bread lawsuit, the state of California is accusing Kroger of violating state business laws through false advertising and unfair competition.

Case Details

• Lawsuit: People of the State of California v. The Kroger Co. et al. 
• Case Number: 24cv03007
• Court: Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Santa Barbara Anacapa Division

Plaintiffs' Attorneys

• John T. Savrnoch, Morgan S. Lucas, and Christopher B. Dalbey (District Attorney of Santa Barbara County)
• Erik Nasarenko, Andrew J. Reid (District Attorney of Ventura County)