Kashi Must Pay $4 Million In Lawsuit Against False GMO-Free Advertising, Judge Rules

Kellogg, the company that owns Kashi, has been ordered to pay $3.99 million toward the resolution of a class action lawsuit against the company alleging that its products were falsely labeled as being "all natural" and containing "nothing artificial," suggesting that they were free of genetically modified organisms.

In fact, the products contained ingredients including GMO soy and its derivatives, GMO corn, and other processed ingredients, which a district judge argued "sufficiently alleges that a reasonable consumer would expect a product labeled 'all natural' to be free of GMOs."

Though Kashi has not admitted any liability, the company has agreed to reimburse customers and to change its labels, as well as provide "compliance information" on products that it claims are GMO-free.

In a statement, the plaintiffs noted that "Kashi's agreement to remove the 'all-natural' claims from products containing the challenged ingredients and supervised compliance with a non-GMO verification program for certain products — is a tremendous result for the class."