Chicago-area shopper loses battle against Kroger over 'farm fresh' label

A Cook County shopper’s lawsuit against Kroger claiming their “farm fresh” labels on eggs were deceptive was dismissed after a judge ruled in favor of the grocery giant this week.

The dispute over what “farm fresh” signals to consumers began with a lawsuit filed by resident Adam Sorkin, who thought a purchase in October with the label meant farm animals were ethically treated.

Sorkin bought eggs at a premium price from Mariano's Fresh Market, a subsidiary of Kroger. Sorkin said in the proposed class action lawsuit the label evoked images of hens living a “natural life” with images of a “farmer getting up with roosters to gather warm eggs from straw nests," Sorkin alleged.

But experts say the “farm fresh” label “literally means nothing,” Sorkin detailed in the complaint against the grocer. Sorkin was troubled to learn that the label does not address the health or welfare of the animals and “farm fresh eggs can come from caged hens in large industrial facilities."

The American Egg Board, a Chicago-based industry group, told the Sun-Times that “farm fresh” is a description that means very little, as all eggs are farm fresh with “eggs typically reaching the store shelf within 72 hours of being laid.”

Ethically minded Kroger shoppers may confuse the “farm fresh” label with “cage free,” Sorkin said, but this isn't the fault of the consumers. Kroger intentionally uses the "farm fresh" label to mislead shoppers, Sorkin argued.

But U.S. District Judge Charles Kocoras ruled that Sorkin’s assumptions about the products were not reasonable.

“The term 'farm fresh' does not say or suggest anything about whether the eggs came from a hen that was caged or not,” Kocoras wrote in his decision.

The label, Kroger argued, is meant to give a “sense of immediacy,” “freshness,” and that the eggs are “freshly picked."

The judge disagreed that a majority of reasonable consumers would believe that the “farm fresh” eggs were from hens “living on some sort of idyllic farm with a red barn, an abundance of hay, and hens frolicking in elysian green pastures.”

In fact, the Chicago judge said, shoppers can assume “farm fresh” eggs mean what it says — The eggs are fresh from a farm.

“Words don’t mean whatever we want them to mean,” said the judge’s decision, citing a prior 2023 seltzer water case against Polar Corp. “[A] plaintiff cannot sue based on every fanciful idea that springs to mind after reading the label.”

Sorkin's suit was based on an inaccurate and "legally unreasonable" interpretation of the product label, the judge said.

Eggs that are labeled “natural” should be treated similarly by shoppers. These labels don’t have any requirements associated with it, said The American Egg Board, a Chicago-based industry group.

Eggs with cage-free, pasture raised and free range labels do come with regulations from U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Mariah Rush is a staff reporter at the Chicago Sun-Times via Report for America, a not-for-profit journalism program that aims to bolster the paper’s coverage of communities on the South and West sides.