Monday, September 21, 2026
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Study Prompts Suits Over Claims of Avocado Oil Content
Relying Upon UC Davis Study, Plaintiffs Allege Makers of Food Products Falsely Tout Use of Healthful Ingredient
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Litigation is mounting in California and elsewhere over claims by manufacturers that their products are made with 100% avocado oil when, in fact, according to putative class actions, the representation is false.
One such lawsuit was filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California against Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. It sets forth claims under California’s Consumers Legal Remedies Act, Unfair Competition Law, and False Advertising Law—commonly relied upon in suits filed in federal courts in the state.
Sprouts, an Arizona-based company, has more than 160 stores in California, including 33 in Los Angeles County. Rhiannon Hood, a resident of San Diego, is the named plaintiff.
Her complaint, like the others, cites research at the University of California (“UC”), Davis’s Department of Food Science and Technology concluding that claims of avocado oil content for various products are untruthful.
Results of the testing were published in the July issue of the journal, “Applied Food Research.” That article has sparked dozens of lawsuits in U.S. district courts in California, alone.
Allegations of Complaint
The pleading in the action against Sprouts says that UC researchers “found that 93% of avocado oil labeled chip products tested, including products sold under the Sprouts brand, exhibited compositional patterns inconsistent with avocado oil and consistent with substitution or dilution using inferior vegetable oils.”
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It sets forth (with paragraph numbering omitted):
“Defendant manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells Sprouts brand potato chips, including products prominently labeled as ‘Made with 100% Avocado Oil.’ The labeling and ingredient statements on these products unambiguously represent to health-conscious consumers that the chips are cooked in avocado oil, and only avocado oil.
“Avocado oil is a premium cooking oil that commands a significantly higher price than lower-cost vegetable oils such as soybean oils and seed oils. The well-documented health distinctions between avocado oil and seed oils are a primary driver of consumer purchasing decisions.
“Consumers, including Plaintiff, purchase Sprouts Avocado Oil chip products at a premium price in order to obtain the health benefits associated with avocado oil, and to avoid the health risks associated with inferior oils. In choosing Defendant’s products, customers, including Plaintiff, reasonably rely on assurances on the package labeling which represent that avocado oil is the one, and only, oil used to make the products.”
Representing Hood, and seeking to act for the class—defined as “[a]ll persons in California who purchased Sprouts Avocado Oil chip products within the applicable statutes of limitation”—are downtown Los Angeles attorneys Michael Connett and Catherine E. Ybarra.
An unrelated Sept. 8 action against Sprouts, also filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, is based on the company’s purported deception in claiming that its tortilla chips are “Made With Avocado Oil” when, according to the complaint, “the oil in the Product is not avocado oil, or at a minimum, not fully avocado oil because it is cut with other seed oils or is otherwise impure.”
Sued on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California were Utz Quality Foods, LLC and Utz Brands, Inc., makers of Boulder Canyon Avocado Oil Classic Sea Salt Kettle Style Potato Chips. Allegations were along the same lines as those leveled at Sprouts, and were akin to those asserted against The Campbell Company—which manufactures Kettle Brand potato chips—in an Aug. 18 action in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.
In the suit against Utz, mid-Wilshire attorney Jason M. Ingber represented San Franciscan Albert Sanchez and New York state resident Mary Sobon. The complaint is under the same three California statutes invoked by Hood as well as New York laws.
It alleges that “Defendants’ website tells consumers that Boulder Canyon’s chips are ‘[m]ade with just three natural ingredients—potatoes, avocado oil, and sea salt’ ” while the UC Davis study showed that the oil in the product “was not compositionally consistent with avocado oil.”
In the action against Campbell, maker of soups and other products, the pleading sets forth:
“The Avocado Oil Representation—‘Made with Avocado Oil’—is prominently displayed on the front label of the Product, as depicted in the following image:
The pleading goes on to say:
“The Avocado Oil Representation is reinforced—not qualified—by the back label of the Product.”
This graphic is provided, with the words, “Avocado Oil” emphasized:
Certification of a nationwide class is sought, along with a California subclass, relying on the state’s consumer protection laws,
An action against Campbell with copycat allegations was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California on Tuesday.
Action Against Unilever
On Wednesday, San Diego resident Sophia Harbist was the named plaintiff in an action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California against Unilever, a multi-national conglomerate with more than 400 brands. Her lawsuit targets Sir Kensington’s Avocado Oil Mayonnaise.
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The complaint avers:
“Defendants label, market, and advertise the Product as ‘Avocado Oil Mayonnaise’ and as made with ‘100% avocado oil’ and declare avocado oil as the first and only oil in the Product’s ingredient statement….Unbeknownst to consumers however, the Product is not made with authentic avocado oil. The oil in the Product bears the compositional signature of cheap, refined vegetable and seed oils that avocado oil is supposed to replace—which consumers pay a premium to avoid.” Harnist sues under the same three California consumer-protection statutes as Hood, and also for breach of express warranty, breach of the implied warranty of merchantability, intentional misrepresentation, and unjust enrichment. The complaint seeks certification of a nationwide class and a California subclass.
Other Actions
Among other litigation over avocado oil claims:
•Walmart is the defendant in an Aug. 18 suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California contending that its finely ground cassava flour hatch chile tortilla chips” are falsely represented as being “[f]ried in 100% avocado oil,” which, the pleading maintains, “is unequivocally and verifiably untrue, and instead, was fried with undisclosed seed oils that are not identified on its Product label.”
It says that “Walmart’s advertising and marketing campaign is false, deceptive, and misleading because, unbeknownst to Plaintiff and reasonable consumers, its Product is not made with authentic avocado oil, but instead, made with cheap, inflammatory seed oils—the very oils that consumers intentionally pay a premium to avoid.”
•Primal Nutrition, LLC, was sued in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on Sept. 3. The complaint says that “its Oil & Vinegar Dressing & Marinade Made with Avocado Oil…, Italian Dressing & Vinaigrette & Marinade Made with Avocado Oil…and Mayo Real Mayonnaise Made with Avocado Oil…(together with other Primal Kitchen food products claiming to contain exclusively avocado oil…) list on the front label that they are ‘made with avocado oil’ and their ingredient lists name avocado oil as the first ingredient and only oil ingredient.”
But, it’s asserted, the products “do not contain 100% pure avocado oil.”
•An Aug. 27 Los Angeles Superior Court complaint says that Chosen Foods LLC has falsely represented that its salad dressings are “made with 100% Pure Avocado Oil, when they actually contain a diluted or substituted oil.”
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