Cold Stone Creamery is facing a legal battle after a New York woman discovered that her ‘pistachio’ ice cream contained no real pistachios

Such important questions about the favorite summer dessert could soon be decided by the courts.

A New York federal judge has given the green light to a class-action lawsuit filed by a Long Island woman who claims that consumers are being deceived by Cold Stone Creamery when they buy certain flavors that “do not contain their represented ingredients.”

Lead plaintiff Gina Marie Duncan purchased her share of pistachio ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery in Levittown, New York, in or about July 2022. According to her lawsuit, Duncan reasonably believed that the pistachio ice cream she purchased from the defendant contained pistachios. “

But Duncan later learned after reading the company's website that there were no pistachios — a member of the cashew family — in the frozen dairy product, but rather “pistachio flavor,” which is defined as a mixture of water, ethanol, propylene glycol, and natural and artificial flavor. Yellow 5 and blue 1, according to the lawsuit.

“When consumers buy pistachio ice cream, they expect pistachios, not a mixture of processed ingredients,” Duncan's lawsuit said, noting that competitors like Häagen-Dazs use real pistachios in their ice cream.

Duncan also handles the ingredients in Cold Stone's mango, coconut, orange, mint, butter, pecan and orange syrup ice cream.

The Associated Press left a message seeking comment from Duncan's attorney.

US District Court Judge Gary R. Brown, whose sarcastic judgment sometimes punctuates song lyrics about ice cream — from Louis Prima's “Banana Split for My Baby” to Weird Al Yankovic's “I Love Rocky Road” — how the case “raises a deceptively complex question about the reasonable expectations of the plaintiff and lovers.” Like-minded ice cream people.”

Should a consumer who orders pistachio ice cream expect actual pistachios?

“And if the answer is no, will it leave them with a bitter taste,” the judge, who ruled in May, wrote.

Brown acknowledges in his ruling, which now allows the case to proceed, that Duncan's alleged claims of deceptive practices under New York's general business law were “reasonable on their face” when it came to the pistachio ice cream she purchased. State law prohibits “deceptive acts and practices in the conduct of any business, trade or commerce or in the provision of any service.”

Messages were left seeking comment from an attorney for Kahala Franchising LLC, the parent company of nearly 1,000 Cold Stone stores worldwide. One lawyer declined to comment on the case when contacted by The Associated Press.

In court records, Kahala sought to have the case dismissed, arguing that a detailed list of ice cream ingredients was posted online. Kahala's regional operations manager said in court records that there was no flavor sign at the Levittown location indicating that the ice cream was “made” with any particular ingredient.

As for the flavors mentioned in the lawsuit, he said, “Consumers can see for themselves that there are no 'cuts' of what appear to be any identifiable ingredients in the ice cream that would indicate that a particular ice cream contains a particular ingredient.”

it was there Many lawsuits There have been lawsuits filed over the years about products not living up to the advertising hype, including lawsuits against them Fast food restaurants To not serve big, juicy or…burgers Soda does not provide the promised health benefits. There have also been lawsuits over products that do not contain the ingredients they claim to contain.

Brown notes in his ruling that some of these disagreements have led to “etymological analysis” about whether a word like vanilla is used by a company as a noun to reflect an actual ingredient in a product, or simply as an adjective to describe a flavor.

But the judge acknowledged that's a tough argument for the ice cream maker when it comes to modern flavors, noting that “when someone orders a 'Moose Tracks' ice cream cone, the hoof prints of the largest member of the deer family act linguistically.” As an adjective.”