Trader Joe's mislabels no-sugar-added chocolate chips, new class action lawsuit alleges

On Sept. 16, 2026, Erin Alexander of Crete, Illinois, and Hailey Worthy of Poplar Grove, Illinois, filed a class action lawsuit against Trader Joe's Co. in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

The lawsuit claims the grocery chain labels its dark chocolate chips as having no sugar added when the second ingredient, allulose, counts as a sugar under federal and Illinois food-labeling rules.

The shoppers behind the Trader Joe's lawsuit

Both plaintiffs say they saw the no-sugar claim before buying the product and paid a premium for chocolate chips they believed contained no sugar. They claim that had they known allulose counts as sugar, they would not have bought the product or would have paid far less.

The complaint says Trader Joe's markets the chips on its website as made with sugar-free allulose and calls them a good option for bakers who want to limit their sugar intake. That language targets health-conscious shoppers, the suit contends.

Why the lawsuit says allulose counts as sugar

The plaintiffs allege the Food and Drug Administration weighed in on allulose, saying it is a monosaccharide. The administration's labeling rule counts every monosaccharide toward a food's total sugars.

The dark chocolate chips' label lists zero grams of total and added sugars per 30-gram serving yet the plaintiffs estimate allulose makes up 10 to 12 grams of each serving, roughly one-third of the product by weight. FDA rules allow no-sugar claims only on foods with less than 0.5 grams of sugars per serving and no ingredient that is a sugar.

The chips fail both tests so they are misbranded under federal and Illinois food law, the lawsuit alleges.

The legal claims

The lawsuit brings three counts against Trader Joe's, all resting on the allegation that the no-sugar label misled shoppers:


  • State consumer fraud acts on behalf of a multistate class covering buyers in Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York and Washington

  • Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act on behalf of an Illinois subclass, a state law that bars deceptive practices in trade

  • Unjust enrichment, also on behalf of an Illinois subclass, a legal theory that applies when a company keeps money it should not have collected

The plaintiffs seek actual, statutory and punitive damages, restitution, interest, attorneys' fees and an injunction requiring Trader Joe's to stop using the label.

What this means for Trader Joe's shoppers

The proposed class covers people in the eight named states who bought the chips for personal use. The case remains pending in federal court in Chicago.

As of this writing, there is no settlement, no claims process and no money available.