Friday, October 9, 2026
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Duncan Hines Is Accused of Falsely Labeling ‘Keto’ Products as Having No ‘Added Sugar’
By a MetNews Staff Writer
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Depicted above is an image of a Duncan Hines cake mix that is marketed as “0g Added Sugar.” A lawsuit was filed on Wednesday accusing the manufacturer of false advertising based on allegations that the “Keto Friendly” product line includes allulose, a natural sweetener that the plaintiff alleges qualifies as a “sugar.” |
A putative class-action complaint has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California accusing food giant Conagra Brands Inc. of “healthwashing” consumers by falsely marketing a line of “Keto Friendly” Duncan Hines products as containing no “added sugar” when in fact the goods contain allulose, a natural sweetener that the plaintiff alleges qualifies as a “sugar” under governing regulations.
Wednesday’s filing, by Downey resident Tracey Brewer, asserts claims against the Illinois-based company under California’s Consumers Legal Remedies Act, which bars “unfair or deceptive acts,” including “[r]epresenting that goods or services have sponsorship, approval, characteristics, ingredients, uses, benefits, or quantities that they do not have,” and the state’s False Advertising Law, found at Business and Professions Code §17500 et seq.
The lawsuit is the latest in a series of recent complaints targeting allulose-containing products following the July decision by the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Franco v. Chobani LLC, in which the court remarked that it found the view expressed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in a June amicus brief that the sweetener is a “sugar” to be “persuasive.”
Long Beach Purchase
Brewer alleged that she purchased a “Duncan Hines Keto-Friendly Walnut Fudge Brownie Mix” in October 2023 from a Long Beach store and said that she would not have done so, or would have paid less for it, had she known that the product contained added allulose. She added:
“For as long as consumable goods have been sold, ‘healthwashing,’ which is the instigation of a sale of a consumer product by making it appear healthier than it is, has led consumers to buy products that either do not actually have any health benefits or are, in some cases, harmful.”
Saying that the “[d]efendant made the ‘0g added sugar’ Representations to induce health-conscious consumers, including Plaintiff, to purchase the Products,” she claimed:
“These representations allowed Defendant to charge a price premium that Plaintiff and members of the proposed class would not have paid had they known that Defendant added multiple grams of allulose to the Products.”
Health Risks
She cited well-known “dangerous health conditions” associated with consuming “added sugar” but highlighted that “[t]he Products…intentionally contain no warning whatsoever about potential risks and the tendency to cause health risks” associated with allulose consumption. The plaintiff asserted:
“A large clinical trial on the gastrointestinal tolerance of allulose determined that, compared to traditional cane sugar, consumption of allulose resulted in significantly higher frequencies of symptoms of diarrhea, abdominal distention, and abdominal pain, and that increasing the level of ingested allulose resulted in incidences of severe nausea, abdominal pain, headache, anorexia, and diarrheal symptoms.”
The pleading requests certification of a nationwide class and a California subclass of “[a]ll persons” who, “during the maximum period of time permitted by law, purchased Defendant’s Products for their personal use.” Brewer seeks injunctive relief and “compensatory, statutory, and punitive damages” as well as interest and attorney fees.
The case is Brewer v. Conagra Brands Inc., 2:26-cv-11681.
Brewer is represented by Beverly Hills attorney Daniel Srourian, who filed similar cases last month against WK Kellogg Co.—over “Zero Added Sugar” labels on Special K cereals—and Linus Technology Mergersub—relating to marketing campaigns associated with David-brand protein bars.
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