'Store-Baked' Goods May Not Mean What You Think - East Idaho News
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‘Store-Baked’ Goods May Not Mean What You Think

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GETTY 12915 Bread?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1422553998691Ikonoklast_Fotografie/iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Many people appreciate fresh bread and treats, which is why a group of people in New Jersey say it’s “misleading” and “unconscionable” that “store baked rolls” may have been pre-baked elsewhere.

A lawsuit filed in December in New Jersey Superior Court in Camden County is accusing Wegmans Food Markets of “deceptive” statements claiming that “certain bread and bakery products that were not baked in store” were baked on the premises. Actually, the suit claims, they were “pre-baked elsewhere and delivered to the stores.”

The suit says that Wegmans allegedly knew that “some bread and bakery products were frozen or stored at a certain temperature and reheated prior to its sale.”

The three plaintiffs, who are residents of New Jersey, also filed a lawsuit with similar allegations against Whole Foods on the same day in U.S. District Court in Camden, New Jersey. For each lawsuit, the proposed class action seeks damages of more than $75,000, claiming there are 10,000 people in the class. Each suit seeks damages of $100 for each class member, according to the court filing.

An attorney representing the plaintiffs of both cases was not immediately available for comment to ABC News, but told NJ.com, “These individuals like to know what they’re buying. They shouldn’t mislead people that the baking is done on premises.”

This month, both companies filed a notice to remove the lawsuits from state to federal court.

A spokeswoman for Whole Foods, Katie Malloy, declined to comment to ABC News because of the pending litigation.

“We haven’t deceived or misled our customers in any way,” Jo Natale, Wegmans Food Market’s vice president of media relations, told ABC News. She declined to comment further.

The Whole Foods suit describes its class as a group of people who purchased “loaves of bread and/or bakery products from a Whole Foods store or online in New Jersey on or after Dec. 14, 2008.”


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