The California Court of Appeals affirmed a trial court judgment in favor of Nissin Foods (USA) in a food labeling dispute. Hahn Loeser Partner Michael J. Gleason and Attorney Lindsay J. Mertens represented Nissin in the trial court and on appeal.
In 2023, a Los Angeles court granted a motion for judgment on the pleadings in favor of Nissin and held that no reasonable consumer would be misled by Nissin’s labels which read “No Added MSG.” MSG (“monosodium glutamate”) is a salt-like ingredient that some products add for flavor. Nissin does not add MSG, but the plaintiff argued that the label is misleading because the product also lists ingredients with naturally occurring free glutamates which some customers may equate to MSG.
Hahn Loeser successfully argued in both the trial and appellate court that Nissin’s labels were fully compliant with all FDA regulations by listing the ingredients used in the products. Hahn Loeser further showed that no reasonable consumer would be misled by Nissin’s “No Added MSG” label because, even if a consumer equated MSG with all naturally occurring glutamates, Nissin’s “No Added MSG” label was directly followed by the statement “Contains Small Amounts of Naturally Occurring Glutamates” which would clarify any potential ambiguity in the label.
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