On Nov. 18, Florida resident Amanda Ramirez sued the Kraft Heinz Company for at least $5 million over what she claims is deceptive and fraudulent packaging. Ramirez says that since Kraft’s Velveeta Shells & Cheese Microwavable Shell Pasta takes longer than 3-and-a-half minutes to prepare even though its packing states “ready in 3½ minutes,” that constitutes fraud. What the plaintiff focuses on is the fifth instruction, “cheese sauce will thicken upon standing” which they say constitutes a longer “ready” time than the packaging claims. “Consumers seeing ‘ready in 3½ minutes’ will believe it represents the total amount of time it takes to prepare the Product,” the suit reads. “However, the directions outlined above show that 3-and-a-half minutes is just the length of time to complete one of several steps.

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