California Sushi Company Faced with Tainted Sushi Rice Lawsuit

The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) has confirmed to various media sources that it is investigating a class action lawsuit made against the state’s largest sushi exporter, alleging that the company has been selling the state bad sushi.

After this year’s drought caused California’s rice production to drop 25 percent, the state’s sushi shops became less picky about where their sushi rice came from; economic thoughts had taken priority over quality control. However, this did not sit well with one consumer who filed a class action lawsuit against Sacramento-based Farmers’ Rice Cooperative (FRC) for selling tainted sushi rice.

The plaintiff accused the defendant of selling lower quality and tainted rice, which was covered in “insects, rodents and their soiling, bird remains, and black mold,” according to the sushi rice lawsuit. The company allegedly mislabeled the rice, which managed to make its way into sushi restaurants, retailers and rice brokers when the FRC mixed rices of various qualities of the product.

Essentially, the 700-member cooperative was taking the worst quality “flush rice” and mixing it in with higher-priced premium and medium quality rice, to get past inspection. While the defendant has admitted to doing no wrongdoing and claims that their rice is “as safe as it gets,” the class action lawsuit alleges that this has been occurring for over four years. Farmer’s Rice Cooperative consists of 700 members and exports rice to various locations in California. The rice was reportedly in such poor quality that it was not safe to be consumed by humans.

The company allegedly got away with this for so long because the majority of the high-quality rice would go to sushi restaurants while the flushed rice would be sold to supermarkets. The sushi rice lawsuit alleged that flushed rice consisted as much as 85 percent of the product that was labeled as “New Variety” rice.

Overview of Contaminated Sushi Rice in California

The class action lawsuit was filed in July 2014 against FRC, and accused the company of selling contaminated rice to thousands of grocery stores throughout California under various brand names like Calrose, New Crop, M40, and others. The contaminated rice allegedly contains what is called “flush,” which is supposed to be separated from the product before it is sold for human consumption.

The lead plaintiff against FRC, JinJu Shushi, filed the class action lawsuit against the company after finding that their shipment of rice was contaminated and unprocessed. The sushi rice lawsuit stated that the rice was inedible, and that they could not safely sell it to customers. Further investigation has led the plaintiff and health agency investigators to believe that this company has practiced this action for years, in order to receive maximum profit for their products.

According to the class action lawsuit, FRC has been exposing their clients and customers to harmful rice for years, which could have resulted in in injury or disease. Investigators suspect that as little as 15 percent of the rice that FRC sold to restaurants may have been safe for humans to eat, but even that is not certain.

Potential plaintiffs to join this class action lawsuit are eligible if they have eaten sushi in the last four years, which was billed as U.S. No. 1 Extra Fancy rice to restaurants. The allegations made in the sushi rice lawsuit so far include: negligence, false advertising, concealing information, and misrepresenting a product.

Join a Free Sushi Rice Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you own a California restaurant or business that sold sushi within the past four years, you may be eligible to join a free class action lawsuit investigation.

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