The world’s largest berry firm, Driscoll’s, is dealing with a client fraud class motion lawsuit alleging that the fruit firm’s strawberries comprise “endlessly chemical compounds.”
The Watsonville-based berry firm is accused of client fraud and misleading practices in a lawsuit filed by six individuals residing in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Illinois. The lawsuit hinges on a laboratory report that examined two packing containers of Driscoll’s strawberry and located that the produce “contained residues of 12 completely different pesticides at ranges prohibited within the European Union, Taiwan, Chile, Korea & Russia.”
Eight of the dozen chemical compounds discovered are thought-about PFAS “endlessly chemical compounds,” that means they’re extraordinarily persistent and extremely poisonous, the laboratory mentioned in its report.
The case paperwork, reviewed by The California Submit, allege the corporate didn’t disclose their supposedly pristine produce –– branded as “Solely the Best Berries” –– are loaded with allegedly harmful, long-lasting “endlessly chemical compounds.”
“Driscoll’s ran an environmentally pleasant marketing campaign—greenwashing its true farming and manufacturing practices that included these endlessly chemical compounds recognized to be terribly tough to wash up and break down and [to] accumulate within the atmosphere and residing organisms, together with people,” the lawsuit mentioned.
Plaintiffs Robert Berlinger, Robert Duxler, Francesca Hammersmith, Maria Khangi, Phylicia Washington, and Bianca Weins steadily bought Driscoll’s strawberries in Could and June of 2026.
They relied closely on Driscoll’s packaging, advertising, and model repute, which led them to imagine the strawberries had been secure, high-quality, and free from dangerous contaminants, in accordance with the lawsuit.
Nevertheless, they subsequently realized by information and social media that the strawberries had been contaminated with PFAS-related compounds or persistent fluorinated pesticides.
The lawsuit mentioned in the event that they “had recognized the true info in regards to the strawberries, together with the presence and/or use of PFAS-related compounds, they’d not have bought the merchandise or would have paid considerably much less for them.”
The berry large refuted the accusations made within the class motion lawsuit, saying that they’re “with out advantage,” the SF Gate reported. The corporate’s spokesperson instructed the information outlet that the agency maintains “strong meals security and compliance packages.”
The buyer fraud lawsuit closely builds upon a bombshell whistleblower grievance filed in Ventura County Superior Court docket final month by David Harada, Driscoll’s former Supervisor of Meals Security and Regulatory Compliance for the U.S. and Canada. He claimed that he was wrongfully terminated after warning executives that growers had been violating state, federal, and worldwide pesticide limits.
In court docket paperwork, accessed by the Submit, Harada claims that after he knowledgeable that the corporate was promoting and exporting produce in violation of U.S. and Canadian pesticide and meals security legal guidelines, he was instructed to give attention to sustaining income and creating “believable deniability” as a substitute of fixing the issue.
