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Two California mothers are suing General Mills, claiming the giant food company has deceptively marketed its Nature Valley products as natural when they contain highly processed ingredients.

The women are seeking to turn the suit into a class action that would win the profits the company has made selling Nature Valley products that contain such ingredients.

But Amy McKendrick, one of the mothers, said she really only wanted to make other parents aware that products they were buying to avoid dyes and processed ingredients for health reasons may not be as pure as they thought based on what they read on packaging.

"I've figured out now that something can say it's 100 percent natural on the outside and not be 100 percent natural," Ms. McKendrick said. "I want to make sure other people making purchases understand that, too."

Kirstie Foster, a spokeswoman for General Mills, said in an e-mail that the company had not seen the lawsuit. "We are aware of the press release, but to our knowledge, we have not been served with a lawsuit," she said, referring to a news release sent out by the plaintiffs' lawyers.