What to Know
- The manufacturer of Wise Chips is being sued by customers complaining they're getting too little chips
- They say the "slack-fill" is excessive, and there's too much empty space in the chip bags, especially when compared to competitors
- The plaintiffs are seeking damages and for Wise to repackage their chips
The manufacturer of Wise chips is being sued by two customers who claim the bags of chips contain mostly air.
The plaintiffs, from the Bronx and Washington, D.C., say Wise Foods Inc. is packaging their chip bags with excessive "slack-fill," which misleads customers into thinking they're getting more chips than they actually do. And because the packaging is opaque, they can't gauge how much product is inside the bag before they buy it.
A photo included in the class-action suit shows a bag of Wise Ridgies Sour Cream and Onion chips next to a ruler showing the approximate line of fill at about a third of the entire bag size.
Federal guidelines allow manufacturers to include slack-fill in packaging to protect the chips from getting crushed, among other reasons.
But the lawsuit says there's just too much empty space in Wise chip bags to serve a purpose. Wise's competitors fill their own bags higher so they contain more product, proving Wise's use of slack-fill nonfunctional, the lawsuit states.
"When competitors fit more potato chips into the same size bag that Defendant uses, it proves that some of the empty space in Defendant's Product bags is in excess for potato ship manufacturing and shipping," the lawsuit states.
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The weight listed on the chip bags doesn't help because it's generally meaningless to the regular shopper who sees the size of the bag, the plaintiffs argue.
The plaintiffs are seeking statutory damages up to $1,500 per violation under the D.C. Consumer Protection Procedures Act, and a court order requiring the Wise Foods to repackage their chips.
Customers have long been complaining about being cheated of chips on social media, blog Grub Street pointed out.
