On April 28, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a district court’s decision to dismiss a lawsuit against Kroger which alleged that the company falsely and misleadingly labeled its spreadable fruit products as “Just Fruit” because they contained ingredients which were not “fruit” in the form found in nature. However, all of the ingredients in the products (fruit syrup, pectin, calcium citrate, apple juice concentrate, and citric acid), were in fact derived from fruit. 

The Court held that the definition of “fruit” must be considered in the context of the product (a spreadable fruit) and that spreadable fruit products “necessarily contain ingredients other than the crushed ‘reproductive bod[ies] of a seed plant.’” (Merriam Webster Dictionary definition of a “fruit”). And, since each ingredient in the product was extracted and isolated from fruit, the claim was neither objectively false nor misleading under the reasonable consumer test (i.e., the label was not likely to mislead a significant portion of reasonable grocery shoppers).

The Court also rejected the argument that the descriptor “Just” (in “Just Fruit”) indicated an absence of added sweeteners. The statement said nothing about sugar content and a reasonable consumer would not think otherwise, especially given that most spreadable fruit products contain added sugars.