“A class action lawsuit filed against Campbell's alleges that independent laboratory testing (cited from UC Davis researchers) found Kettle Brand's Avocado Oil Sea Salt with a Hint of Pink Peppercorn chips, despite being labeled 'Made with Avocado Oil,' contain virtually no genuine avocado oil and instead consist of cheap seed oils”

**The lawsuit exists and is correctly described.** Diana Heiland filed a class action lawsuit against The Campbell's Co., d/b/a Kettle Brand, on Aug. 18, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, with the complaint claiming Kettle Brand avocado oil sea salt with a hint of pink peppercorn potato chips contain various seed oils and no avocado oil. The case number is 1:26-cv-06598-EPG. **The labeling description is accurate.** The front of the package reads "made with avocado oil" beside a drawing of an avocado, and the ingredients list on the back names avocado oil as the only oil. **The allegation content matches the claim.** The plaintiff alleges that scientific testing conducted by food scientists at UC Davis found the oil in the chips is compositionally inconsistent with authentic avocado oil, and instead has the compositional signature of cheap, refined vegetable oils. The complaint states researchers measured the fingerprint of the oil inside the chips, it did not match avocado oil, it allegedly matched canola, corn, soybean and sunflower oil, and both lots returned the same results. **The UC Davis study is real, peer-reviewed, and independent of the litigation.** UC Davis researchers tested processed foods marketed as containing avocado oil and found 48 of the 54 avocado oil-labeled products were adulterated with cheaper oils, published in Applied Food Research, with products purchased in 2025 and 2026 from online retailers and California stores. Of 74 products examined, 54 samples represented two production lots from 27 products listing avocado oil as their sole edible oil, and 48 of those 54 produced compositions inconsistent with authentic avocado oil, with the problem appearing in 93% of chip samples, 71% of mayonnaise samples and every salad dressing sample. Among 20 products listing olive oil as their only oil, just one returned an inconsistent result. **Kettle Brand appears in the study's failing set.** Secondary reporting identified Kettle Brand varieties among the products whose tested lots were inconsistent with pure avocado oil, alongside Boulder Canyon, Siete, Jackson's, Chosen Foods, Primal Kitchen and others. One account states the named product is one of the exact chips in the UC Davis dataset and that the complaint cites the July 2026 study directly, including its figure that 26 of 28 avocado oil chip samples failed authenticity testing. **Campbell's has not substantively responded.** A Campbell's representative told Courthouse News it does not comment on pending litigation. **Regulators are acting on the same study.** The Texas Attorney General opened an investigation, stating the 2026 UC Davis study found 93% of chip samples, 71% of mayonnaise samples, and 100% of dressing samples tested contained seed oils despite failure to disclose them in ingredient lists or elsewhere on packaging. --- ## METHODOLOGY AND CONTEXT **Study design:** Researchers extracted oil from each product and compared its chemical fingerprint against Codex Alimentarius standards for authentic avocado oil, applying a 10% margin to account for natural variation in avocado variety and origin. A sample could sit up to 10% outside a Codex limit on a single marker and still count as consistent, could miss on as many as two markers and be called borderline if the rest of the profile looked authentic, and only samples with multiple deviations pointing the same direction were classified as inconsistent. **Processing artifacts were tested and excluded:** Laboratory experiments confirmed that typical food processing such as frying or emulsification did not significantly alter the markers. According to the related Utz complaint, researchers found typical frying conditions altered key authenticity markers by less than one percent. **Stated limitations:** Researchers cautioned that the results apply only to the specific lots tested, not necessarily to every batch a brand produces. The products represent only a portion of the avocado oil processed food market. The authors acknowledge a producer could have bought what it believed was authentic avocado oil without knowing it had already been diluted or substituted further upstream. **Methodological caveat raised by independent commentators:** The Codex avocado oil standard is new. Olive oil has roughly 40 years of continuous international standardization, large multi-country databases, sensory and chemical methods, EU legal enforcement, and ongoing adjustments for climate and cultivar. One analysis notes that the same researchers' earlier work found some authentic reference oils fell outside certain Codex limits, with the study measuring against the Codex Alimentarius standard for named vegetable oils (CXS 210), which added avocado oil in November 2024. **Litigation posture:** Neither the Utz nor the Campbell's case has been tested in court, and the claims remain allegations. The suit alleges violations of the California Consumers Legal Remedies Act, Unfair Competition Law and False Advertising Law, plus breach of express warranty and unjust enrichment, and asks the court to certify California and nationwide classes. ---