Family-owned spice products group Watkins Inc. has filed a lawsuit alleging that spice maker McCormick & Co. underfills tins of its ground black pepper in a manner that "misleads retailers and consumers".
The complaint alleges that McCormick, the largest distributor of tinned black pepper in the US, has sold ground pepper in "non-transparent metal tins" for "decades". However, in early 2015 the company began selling the same sized tins with 25% less pepper, Watkins asserted.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
The court documents claim that this constitutes "slack filling" which is illegal under state and federal law.
McCormick was unavailable for comment at time of press.
