A Lawsuit to Fix Hot Sauce

If there is one thing Americans love to do, it's file lawsuits. Our legal system is gunked up again by a man in California who felt the best way to use his time and resources was to file a lawsuit. About hot sauce. Because it's not made in Texas. If you're saying "really??" then let Ariana Garcia at Chron tell you more.

A Los Angeles man has filed a class action lawsuit accusing Winston-Salem-based T.W. Garner Food Co. of false advertising after learning that its Texas Pete hot sauce is made in North Carolina—not the Lone Star State. 

As reported by North Carolina news station WGHP-TV, in Sept. 2021, Philip White purchased a $3 bottle of Texas Pete—which has a label featuring a cowboy and what court documents describe as "a stereotypically white Texas “lone star” reminiscent of the Texas state flag"— at a Ralph's grocery in Los Angeles. The suit states that White made the purchase while relying "upon the language and images displayed on the front label of the Product, and at the time of purchase understood the Product to be a Texas product," according to the complaint. "There is surprisingly nothing Texas about them," it continues. 

CHRON

While, yes, the bottle does aim to make you think of cowboys and Old West culture, it isn't a big leap to think Texas Pete is made in Texas. But to file a lawsuit and go the legal route? Just seems excessive.

This does remind me of the hilarious Pace Picante commercials from the 80s and 90s where various cowboys are aghast at their salsa being made in New York City. It's a great trip down memory lane and one of their many commercials with this gag is below.