9-25-2026 4:32am

NOT "ORIGINAL"

McCormick Is Being Sued for Allegedly Deceiving Customers

Here’s what we know.

You may know McCormick for its iconic spices and extracts, but the global brand is also behind a number of popular condiments. McCormick & Company, Inc.—which also owns Frank’s RedHot, French’s Mustard, and Lawry’s—is currently facing a proposed lawsuit for one brand in particular. It’s a beloved hot sauce that even chefs would choose over homemade: Cholula.

The proposed class action suit, which was filed on Aug. 10, 2026 in New York, alleges that McCormick is deceiving customers with Cholula’s product packaging, and is seeking $5 million in retribution. The lawsuit states that McCormick falsely labeled Cholula Hot Sauce as “Original,” despite recently reformulating the product to feature cheaper ingredients that are less traditional.

New Proposed Lawsuit Claims Cholula’s Hot Sauce Label Is Misleading Customers

After acquiring the Cholula brand in November 2020, McCormick maintained the hot sauce brand’s iconic packaging, from the wooden cap to aspects of label design like font and color—plus the images of an “Abuelita” figure and produce. Meanwhile, though, McCormick was allegedly working behind-the-scenes to “quietly” reformulate the spicy condiment with lab-produced ingredients that contradict Cholula’s traditional recipe.

According to the 17-page proposed lawsuit, McCormick advertises and markets Cholula Original Hot Sauce as a premium “Authentic Mexican Hot Sauce” that is “crafted from a generations-old family recipe,” despite a recent reformulation.

Prior to 2020, Cholula Original Hot Sauce reportedly contained only arbol and pequin peppers for its signature heat—plus water, salt, vinegar, garlic powder, spices, and xanthan gum. After McCormick’s acquisition, though, the filing asserts that the spice company changed the ingredients to reduce production costs. Rather than keeping Cholula’s original recipe, McCormick’s reformulation included adding acetic acid and natural flavor, plus increasing the ratio of xanthan gum, according to the filing. The proposed lawsuit also claims that acetic acid, which is now the fourth ingredient on Cholula’s back-label ingredients list, replaced the standard vinegar, and apple cider vinegar is now listed as the seventh ingredient.

Furthermore, the filing cites a 1989 ruling from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that states that “diluted acetic acid is not a vinegar of any kind.” The lawsuit also refers to Section 562.100 of the FDA Compliance Program Manual, which states, “Acetic acid should not be substituted for vinegar in pickled products which consumers customarily expect to be prepared with vinegar.”

In addition to changes to the vinegar, the complaint also notes that xanthan gum—which is a food thickener and stabilizer produced in labs, not a natural ingredient—is now the fifth ingredient on the label, when it was originally listed as the hot sauce’s final ingredient. Last but not least, the filing states that McCormick’s reformulation now includes “natural flavor,” which the case argues is typically made up of chemical additives which are highly processed, and not natural.

The proposed class action lawsuit claims that McCormick is misleading consumers who are still purchasing the “Original” hot sauce formulation, despite major changes to Cholula’s standard recipe. The filing also references consumer complaints on social media, some of which include noted changes to the hot sauce’s flavor.

“The [hot sauce’s] front label misleads reasonable consumers into believing that the product is the authentic, one-of-a-kind Mexican hot sauce,” the complaint states. “However, this is not the case because the [hot sauce] now includes additives that were not present even a few years ago, let alone generations ago.”

“[McCormick] is capitalizing on the goodwill from the product’s authenticity and historic recipe, as well as decades of ubiquitous marketing, while quietly reformulating the product with cheaper, less traditional ingredients,” the filing says.

In addition to the labels on the bottles themselves, the proposed lawsuit also claims that McCormick has removed statements on its website that Cholula Original Hot Sauce is imported from Mexico. The complaint argues that the removal could indicate that the product is or will no longer be produced in Mexico, further reducing the hot sauce’s authenticity after being made in Jalisco, Mexico “for decades.”

The proposed class action lawsuit is seeking to cover all consumers who purchased Cholula Original Hot Sauce in New York since August 2023—the beginning of the relevant statute of limitations. Like most class action lawsuits, it may take some time before a verdict is reached. For now, though, we know that McCormick executed a waiver of service, which gives the brand until Oct. 12, 2026 to file a formal answer to the complaint.