Bumble Bee Settles Canned Salmon Labeling Class Action Lawsuit

Last week, Bumble Bee Foods LLC reportedly agreed to settle a class action lawsuit accusing it of using misleading labeling that led consumers to believe its canned salmon was smoked and wild caught when it was really farmed salmon with added smoke flavoring.

Under the terms of the proposed canned salmon class action settlement, Bumble Bee will change the labeling of its canned salmon products.

The new labels will reportedly clarify that the product is “smoke-flavored” instead of smoked and will not include language indicating the salmon is “premium” or “medium red.” The image on the label will also be changed to more accurately represent a farm-raised Coho salmon.

Bumble Bee will not be required to pull the old products with the allegedly misleading labels from the shelves under the terms of the proposed Bumble Bee salmon class action settlement.

Class Members of the proposed Bumble Bee canned salmon settlement will not be entitled to payment from the deal. However, the class action settlement provides meaningful injunctive relief and does not prohibit Class Members from pursuing claims against Bumble Bee.

Plaintiff Miguel Rodriguez filed the Bumble Bee canned salmon class action lawsuit in December on behalf of himself and a proposed Class of U.S. consumers who purchased Bumble Bee Premium Select Medium Red Smoked Salmon Filets in Oil since Nov. 6, 2013.

Rodriguez alleged that Bumble Bee’s canned salmon labels represented the product as being wild Alaska salmon when it is actually low-quality, farm-raised Chilean Salmon that are fed food with colorants to mimic the desired color of wild salmon, which feed on krill.

“Farm-raised salmon … naturally have a dull grey flesh,” the Bumble Bee salmon class action lawsuit alleged. “To make the fish appealing to consumers, colorants, typically canthaxanthin or astaxanthin, are added to farmed salmons’ feed to mimic the desired color.”

Further, he alleges the Bumble Bee Medium Red Smoked Salmon was not actually smoked.

“Rather, just as color is added to the fishes’ food to mimic the flesh of wild salmon, smoke flavor is added to the salmon to mimic the taste of actual smoking,” Rodriguez alleged in the Bumble Bee class action lawsuit.

He asserted claims for violations of the California False Advertising Law, the California Consumers Legal Remedies Act, the California Unfair Competition Law, breach of express warranty and breach of the implied warranty of merchantability.

The preliminary approval hearing has been scheduled for March 12, 2018.

Top Class Actions will post updates to this class action settlement as they become available. For the latest updates, keep checking TopClassActions.com or sign up for our free newsletter. You can also receive notifications when this article is updated by using your free Top Class Actions account and clicking the “Follow Article” button at the top of the post.

Rodriguez is represented by Jack Fitzgerald, Melanie Persinger and Trevor Flynn of The Law Office of Jack Fitzgerald PC.

The Bumble Bee Canned Salmon Class Action Lawsuit is Miguel Rodriguez, et al. v. Bumble Bee Foods LLC, Case No. 3:17-cv-02447, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.