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  1. #1
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    Jul 2014
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    Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States
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    Default Can You Sue Over a Food Allergy if Food Packaging is Misleading

    My boyfriend is allergic to chocolate and he bought a rice krispies treat by kellogs. The package said buttery toffee, and because he was driving at night he didnt realize till he ate half of it that it was drizzled in chocolate not butter toffee. There was no butter toffee in this product. This is misleading. He feels icky and itchy I had to give him benadryl. Can I sue over this? Would that be unrealistic? I kept the rest of the product in the original packaging. P.s. I live in North Carolina.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
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    Florida
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    Default Re: Bought Product with Misleading Info and Had Allergic Reaction, Can I Sue

    In order to sue your boyfriend would have to prove damages. An icky and itchy feeling that is relieved by a benadryl tablet does not constitute damages. If he had to be rushed to an emergency room and undergo painful procedures to open his airway, etc., then that could constitute damages that could be recovered but only if he could prove that unlabeled ingredients in the cereal were the cause of the injury. Since he can't prove any of these things he will not be suing anyone. He might complain to the company and an appropriate governmental agency about faulty labeling, however.

  3. #3

    Default Re: Bought Product with Misleading Info and Had Allergic Reaction, Can I Sue

    Yes, suing is unrealistic.

    First, it isn't the company's fault that your boyfriend neither bothered to READ the ingredients nor LOOK at the item with chocolate clearly visible on it before eating it. If he has allergies, he shouldn't be eating things without minimally LOOKING at them and VERIFYING by checking the label... and if he is allergic to CHOCOLATE, he needs to pay particularly close attention if eating sweets.

    And YOU have no way to sue anyway, since YOU weren't the person mildly inconvenienced. If your boyfriend wants to sue, there's nothing stopping him. He has every right to pay any attorney willing to take his money to file a lawsuit. If it's worth several thousand dollars to recoup the amount of cost for a dose of Benedryl, more power to him. The nice thing about the freedom we enjoy in our country is that it includes both the freedom to be an idiot...and to be able to try to sue someone else because of things we do to ourselves. Is your boyfriend going to get a big check? No, he's not.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
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    18,340

    Default Re: Bought Product with Misleading Info and Had Allergic Reaction, Can I Sue

    Quote Quoting Kimbellow
    View Post
    My boyfriend is allergic to chocolate and he bought a rice krispies treat by kellogs. The package said buttery toffee, and because he was driving at night he didnt realize till he ate half of it that it was drizzled in chocolate not butter toffee. There was no butter toffee in this product. This is misleading. He feels icky and itchy I had to give him benadryl. Can I sue over this? Would that be unrealistic? I kept the rest of the product in the original packaging. P.s. I live in North Carolina.
    Per Merriam Webster dictionary:

    "Toffee - candy of brittle but tender texture made by boiling sugar and butter together."

    According to the package label the product contains sugar and butter so that's where the toffee flavor comes from.

    Also listed in the ingredients is "chocolate flavored coating" made with cocoa.

    So, yeah, suing would be unrealistic.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
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    OH10
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    17,019

    Default Re: Bought Product with Misleading Info and Had Allergic Reaction, Can I Sue

    https://www.kelloggsfamilyrewards.co...ry-toffee.html

    He got what he paid for. It was a purchaser error, not a product error.

    Kellogg's® Rice Krispies Treats® Buttery Toffee
    Crispy marshmallow squares made from puffed, oven-roasted rice cereal with buttery toffee pieces and chocolate drizzle.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
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    Somewhere near Canada
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    Default Re: Bought Product with Misleading Info and Had Allergic Reaction, Can I Sue

    Quote Quoting Disagreeable
    View Post
    https://www.kelloggsfamilyrewards.co...ry-toffee.html

    He got what he paid for. It was a purchaser error, not a product error.

    Well you just entirely stole my thunder...

    ...I so wanted to say that

    OP, your boyfriend isn't called Willly is he?

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
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    Behind a Desk
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    98,846

    Default Re: Bought Product with Misleading Info and Had Allergic Reaction, Can I Sue

    Quote Quoting Kimbellow
    View Post
    My boyfriend is allergic to chocolate and he bought a rice krispies treat by kellogs. The package said buttery toffee, and because he was driving at night he didnt realize till he ate half of it that it was drizzled in chocolate not butter toffee.
    There are two different Rice Krispie treat products that we could be talking about. The first is the product that you find in grocery stores, which have a very clear picture of a chocolate-drizzled treat on the packaging. The second is the Rice Krispies Treat Big Bar, a product sold through convenience chains that does not appear to show the chocolate on the individually packaged bars. However, as the chocolate appears in plain sight when you open the package, tastes like chocolate, and chocolate is listed as an ingredient, it would seem difficult to establish that more notice was required. People with serious food allergies check the ingredients.
    Quote Quoting Kimbellow
    He feels icky and itchy I had to give him benadryl.
    Were he to sue over feeling "icky and itchy" with no further symptoms, your boyfriend would most likely be looking at investing thousands in a lawsuit with the probability of an award of not more than nominal damages (typically $1). Your boyfriend would likely fare better by complaining to Kellogs and letting them send him a bunch of coupons, likely for free products, as manufacturers are apt to do when confronted with this type of complaint.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jul 2014
    Location
    Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States
    Posts
    2

    Default Re: Bought Product with Misleading Info and Had Allergic Reaction, Can I Sue

    Thank you for clarifying. The product picture was definitely misleading since its says butter toffee but there was none in the bar itself. Its easy to not notice the chocolate flavoring as I tasted it myself. What concerns me is what if this had been more serious? Or had been a child? P.s. it was definitely NOT me. He asked about lawsuits and i tried to find an answer for him.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Thank you for the only answer that was straight to the point and not rude. The only reason I ask is because Ive heard of people suing for less.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
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    Somewhere near Canada
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    35,894

    Default Re: Bought Product with Misleading Info and Had Allergic Reaction, Can I Sue

    It wasn't more serious.

    It wasn't a child.

    The law does not address "what ifs".

    And those people who sue for less are actually bring down the entire system. We don't file lawsuits over a boo-boo.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Massachusetts
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    24,521

    Default Re: Bought Product with Misleading Info and Had Allergic Reaction, Can I Sue

    You don't get to sue for what might have happened, only for what did.

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