(OAKLAND, Ca.) — Courthouse News reports that Barilla America, Inc., must face a class action lawsuit regarding its policy of labelling products as “Italy’s #1 brand of pasta.”
Matthew Sinatro and Jessica Prost say that they purchased Barilla spaghetti and angel hair pasta because they thought they were authentically Italian ingredients.
Although the businesses was founded in Parma, Italy in the nineteenth century, and its corporate headquarters remain there, most of the pasta sold in North America is produced in mills in Iowa or New York state. The lawsuit alleges that “[Barilla] falsely and misleadingly bales certain of its Barilla brand pastas as ‘ITALY’S #1 BRAND OF PASTA,’ deliberately misleading reasonable consumers to believe that the Products are made in Italy.”
They further allege that Barilla’s marketing and branding reinforce this interpretation, with the red, white, and green of Italy’s national flag used throughout.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Donna Ryu ruled on Monday that Sinatro and Prost have shown they’ve suffered an economic injury, as they paid a premium for a product they believed was made in Italy.
Ryu’s ruling allows the case to progress, assuming that a motion for an injunction is not submitted and granted.