(HIALEAH, FL)– A Florida woman has filed a class-action lawsuit against Kraft Heinz for their claim that their Velveeta mac n’ cheese product is ready for consumption in three and a half minutes.
The $5 million lawsuit was filed in Miami federal court earlier this month by Amanda Ramirez, who claims that the company not only misled customers about the time it takes to prepare and make the meal, but that it also gains profit from the deception.
According to the lawsuit, it takes 3 1/2 minutes to warm up the microwavable Velveeta Shells & Cheese cups but that is not taking account for the meal prep or the time the customer needs to allow for it to settle.
The product’s box, however, states in bold that the product is ready in 3 1/2 minutes.
Attorney Will Wright told Local 10 News that he’s received a lot of backlash for taking on the lawsuit but he believes in holding companies responsible:
“I’ve gotten a lot of flak about this case, but deceptive advertising is deceptive advertising. Here, Kraft charges extra for a desirable feature (saving time) but the marketing is false, it takes far longer for the product to be ready than as advertised. Deceptive adverting plain and simple. There are a lot of people that may feel this is just a little fibbing and not really a case and I get that. But we are striving for something better. We want corporate America to be straightforward and truthful in advertising their products. My firm also represents clients in what most would say are more compelling cases (arsenic in baby food, etc.) but we don’t feel corporations should get a pass for any deceptive advertising. The consumers deserve better.”