By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) – A U.S. choose has dismissed a proposed class motion accusing Kellogg (NYSE:) Co of defrauding customers concerning the content material of its Frosted Chocolate Fudge Pop-Tarts, certainly one of a number of lawsuits difficult the way it markets its toaster pastries.

In a Thursday choice, U.S. District Choose James Shadid in Peoria, Illinois, rejected plaintiff Roberta Reinitz’s declare that Kellogg’s labeling, together with a picture displaying a piece of fudge, violated federal and state shopper safety legal guidelines.

Reinitz, of Chatsworth, Illinois, mentioned she wouldn’t have purchased the Pop-Tarts or would have paid much less for them had she recognized they contained no milk and butter, or milkfat, which she referred to as “important to fudge.”

However the choose mentioned Reinitz failed to indicate that affordable customers would anticipate fudge to include milkfat, or that “a chocolate-tasting fudge product produced from oils and whey would mislead an affordable shopper.”

In in search of a dismissal, legal professionals for Kellogg mentioned milk and butter weren’t the “defining substances” of fudge.

In addition they mentioned “fudge” referred to the Pop-Tarts’ taste, and {that a} affordable shopper “would interpret it to imply that the product tastes like chocolate (which it does).”

Reinitz’s lawyer Spencer Sheehan has filed many lawsuits in regards to the content material of assorted meals.

He mentioned on Friday he’s reviewing Shadid’s choice and has not determined the best way to proceed. Kellogg and its legal professionals didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.

A minimum of three federal judges in Illinois and New York have this yr dismissed lawsuits filed by Sheehan claiming that Kellogg didn’t use sufficient strawberries in its frosted or unfrosted Strawberry Pop-Tarts.

The case is Reinitz v Kellogg Gross sales Co, U.S. District Courtroom, Central District of Illinois, No. 21-01239.