OAKLAND, Calif. (Legal Newsline) – A class action lawsuit alleges Tootsie Rolls are not only unhealthy because of their sugar content but for the amount of artificial trans fats in them.
Filed Jan. 25 by San Diego lawyer Gregory Weston in Alameda County Superior Court, the case details the health problems associated with artificial trans fats, noting they were banned in restaurants in New York City in 2006.
It says the use of partially hydrogenated oils in Tootsie products “was unfair.”
“Although commercially viable alternative formulations and substitutes for PHO were available, Defendant elected not to use them in Tootsie products in order to increase its profits at the expense of consumers’ health,” the lawsuit says.
“Defendant’s practices… were ‘unfair’ within the meaning of the Unfair Competition Law because its conduct was immoral, unethical, unscrupulous, or substantially injurious to consumers, and the utility of the conduct to Defendant does not outweigh the gravity of the harm to class members.”
Competing candy companies were also harmed by this behavior, the suit says.
Tootsie Roll has removed the case to Oakland federal court.