$5M Lawsuit Over Mac N Cheese Cook Time Filed By FL Woman

HIALEAH, FL — A Hialeah woman is suing Kraft Heinz Food Co. for more than $5 million because the company’s Velveeta Shells & Cheese microwavable mac and cheese cups take longer to prepare than advertised.

Amanda Ramirez filed her suit against the company, which is co-headquartered in Chicago and Pittsburgh, Nov. 18 in the U.S. District Court’s Southern District of Florida in Miami.

She accused Kraft-Heinz of fraud and warranty breaches that violate Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, as well as Consumer Fraud Acts in other states.

Ramirez bought the mac and cheese at a Publix grocery store in Hialeah between October and November, according to the lawsuit, which seeks certification of multiple classes. These include anyone in Florida who purchased the item during the statutes of limitations for the lawsuit’s allegations as well as qualifying customers in the Consumer Fraud Multi-State Class, which spans Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Utah, New Mexico, Alaska, Iowa, Tennessee and Virginia.

In her legal filing, published online by classaction.org, she claims the Velveeta brand’s single-serve mac-and-cheese cups take longer than the three-and-a-half minutes advertised on the packaging to cook.

She called the directions “false and misleading” because they don’t take the preparation time into consideration.

The “product would need to be cooked in the microwave for less than 3-and-a-half minutes, so that all the preparation steps could be completed in the 3-and-a-half minutes timeframe,” the suit reads. “Consumers are misled to expect the product will be ready for consumption in a shorter amount of time than it really takes to prepare.”

The lawsuit demands a jury trial and seeks more than $5 million, including damages. The filing also argues that the company should be ordered to stop its "deceptive" advertising and launch a campaign to inform customers that the product takes longer than 3.5 minutes to prepare.

Kraft Heinz did not immediately respond Monday to an email requesting comment.