The case is Michelle Richard v. Whole Foods, as reported by the Food Navigator (12/5/14) and other press outlets. The plaintiff’s claim? Whole Foods advertised and sold Blue Diamond Almond Breeze Almond Milk and Vanilla Almond Milk with non-GMO labels, when these products hadn’t been verified as such by the Non-GMO Project. The Non-GMO Project is, by far, the largest North American group that tests and verifies food products as non-GMO, and grants the use of its “Verified” seal. Concerning the lawsuit, Whole Foods declined to comment. The Non-GMO Project declined to comment. Blue Diamond declined to comment. “Ongoing litigation…we weren’t involved…confidentiality of clients…” Other Blue Diamond almond products bearing the non-GMO seal have been approved by the Non-GMO Project. So is this simply a case of a clerical error? The plaintiff certainly doesn’t think her lawsuit is trivial. This is a class-action suit, so there are other plaintiffs. The big question is, are there other products on the shelves at Whole Foods which claim to be non-GMO, but aren’t verified? In 2013, Whole Foods announced a plan to label every product in its stores, so customers could tell whether or not they contain GMOs. The deadline is 2018. Meanwhile, Whole Foods states they are working with their suppliers to vastly increase the number of non-GMO food products available to customers. As reported by topclassactions (11/10/15), plaintiff Richard claims she “purchased the Almond Breeze products at one to two times per week between January and June [at Whole Foods].” Is she asserting that the unverified and illegitimate non-GMO label has been present on those products for six months? If the case moves forward, and is not dismissed by a judge, we’ll find out more. On its website, Blue Diamond states that it uses no GMOs in its almond products.
Posted on: Thu, 25 Dec 2014 00:15:33 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015