McCormick says it is not deceiving customers with product labeling

Spice giant McCormick & Co. on Wednesday fired back at Watkins Inc., denying claims made in a lawsuit that it deceived consumers by reducing the amount of black pepper in its tins, without shrinking the container or changing the price.

Winona, Minn.-based Watkins, a small player in the pepper business, filed suit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis against McCormick, saying it engaged in deceptive trade practices.

"We believe there's no justification for the Watkins' claims, and we will defend this lawsuit vigorously," the Maryland company said in a statement.

"Due to an unprecedented increase in the commodity costs of black pepper in the global market, we made the decision to reduce the net weight of our black pepper products," the statement said. "Our priority was to maintain the integrity and quality of our product while avoiding significant increases in the price."

McCormick reduced by 25 percent the amount of ground pepper in some tins. A tin that had held 4 ounces now holds 3, for instance. The size of the tins remains the same.

Watkins alleges in the suit that since tin size is standard among ground pepper producers, a McCormick tin will look the same as competitor's but hold less than 4 ounces of spice, deceiving consumers.

McCormick said it "followed industry standard procedures and [was] transparent about this change, clearly updating the net weight on packaging, issuing a UPC code change and notifying retailers well in advance."

Publicly traded McCormick, which has $4.2 billion in annual revenue, is the dominant force in the U.S. spice business. Watkins, which is owned by prominent Minnesota businessman Irwin Jacobs, is best known for its personal care products and food extracts, and also has long had a spice business, which it's trying to expand.

Mike Hughlett • 612-673-7003