Conagra Brands, the Chicago‑based food giant behind Pam cooking spray, has been ordered to pay $25 million after a California jury found the company failed to warn consumers about the risk of serious lung damage linked to chemicals in its product — including a rare condition often called “popcorn lung.”
Jurors in Los Angeles County Superior Court determined on Feb. 4 that Roland Esparza’s repeated use of Pam’s butter‑flavored spray was a “substantial factor” in his developing bronchiolitis obliterans, a progressive lung disease.
Esparza reportedly used the product multiple times a day for decades beginning in the 1990s and now faces a double-lung transplant while on 24‑hour oxygen, the Chicago Tribune reports.
“He was a big health nut, bodybuilder, martial artist,” his attorney said in court, according to The Tribune.
“He was eating a lot of protein, eating a lot of eggs, and he cooked everything on his stove top. And so he was using it multiple times a day.”
The official verdict form shows jurors found the product failed to perform safely and lacked adequate warnings about the possible inhalation risks.
Though Conagra argued it removed the butter‑flavoring chemical diacetyl from Pam’s formula in 2009, the jury held the company responsible for its earlier formulations.
One juror comment on the verdict form summed up the decision with: “Love for convenience should not come at the cost of health.”
Dining and Cooking