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A class action lawsuit that was filed Friday in California accuses Whole Foods Market California Inc. of selling misbranded products. Specifically, the Whole Foods class action lawsuit alleges the company sells Blue Diamond almond milk products that are mislabeled as “Non-GMO” in violation of California’s Sherman Law and consumer protection laws.
Plaintiff Michelle Richard filed the Whole Foods class action lawsuit on behalf of herself and other consumers who have purchased Blue Diamond Refrigerated Almond Breeze Original Almond Milk and/or Blue Diamond Refrigerated Almond Breeze Vanilla Almond Milk products with the Non-GMO Project Verified label.
According to the GMO labeling class action lawsuit, Richard purchased the Almond Breeze products at one to two times per week between January and June. She alleges that she, as a health-conscious consumer, read and relied upon the Non-GMO Project Verified labels when choosing to purchase the products.
“GMOs, or genetically modified organisms, are plants or animals created through gene splicing techniques of biotechnology, also known as genetic engineering,” the Whole Foods class action lawsuit says. “The evidence of risk and actual harm from genetically modified foods and crops to our health and environment is constantly growing. GMOs have been linked to thousands of toxic and allergic reactions, sick sterile and dead livestock, and damage to almost every organ and system studied in lab animals,” Richard alleges in the GMO labeling class action lawsuit.
According to the Whole Foods class action lawsuit, the Non-GMO Project Verified label indicates that a product has been verified as having been produced according the best practices for genetically modified organism avoidance by the Non-GMO Project, a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to building awareness about GMOs. The Non-GMO Project Verified is reportedly one of the fastest-growing labels in the natural food sector. There are currently more than 20,000 Non-GMO Project Verified products available on the market today.
Richard alleges Whole Foods sells Almond Breeze almond milk that bears the Non-GMO Project Verified label in order to profit on the public’s growing interest in non-GMO foods. She claims Whole Foods sells products with the Non-GMO Project Verified label even though they have not actually been verified by the Non-GMO Project.
The GMO labeling class action lawsuit alleges Whole Foods illegally marketed, advertised, distributed and sold misbranded products to consumers in California and throughout the United States. Richard seeks an injunction to prevent Whole Foods from continuing to market and sell these allegedly misbranded products as well as an award of damages to Class Members.
Richard asserts that Whole Foods has violated California’s Unfair Business Practices Act, False Advertising Act and Consumers Legal Remedies Act. The Whole Foods class action lawsuit also asserts claims for negligent misrepresentation and breach of quasi-contract.
Richard is represented by Brett Shainfeld and Jessica Anvar of Shainfeld & Anvar PC and Todd Friedman of the Law Offices of Todd M. Friedman PC.
The Whole Foods GMO Labeling Class Action Lawsuit is Michelle Richard v. Whole Foods Market California Inc., Case No. BC563304, in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles.
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49 thoughts onWhole Foods Hit with GMO Labeling Class Action Lawsuit
I used to buy that milk . Please keep me posted . Thanks
I believe both Distributor & Manufacture should be sude because I have been purchasing these products for quite some time.
This is stupid, why file a lawsuit against whole foods, should be blue diamond???????
To Sarah Cooper, Finally a brief statement that shows intelligence. Thank You Sarah.
I’m reposting what I wrote a while ago, but with links removed, because I suspect it might have been held for automoderation indefinitely due to including links.
Well, duh! That’s the very same reason why every other company using that label uses it!
It is not clear to me what is being alleged in this lawsuit (I could look it up but it looks like that would involve signing up for Law360 and I do not wish to do this).
The way I see it, the plaintiffs must be alleging one of two very different things:
– That Blue Diamond counterfeited the Non-GMO Project label. That is, that they unilaterally placed the Non-GMO Project label on their products, to inform the consumer that their product contains no products derived from genetically engineered crops, without going through the the Non-GMO Project certification process. If this is the case, it seems odd that the Non-GMO project is not also a plaintiff in this case given the fact that having their certification process be bypassed in this way appropriates their trademark as well as deprives them of a revenue stream. This would seem to be a very clear case and I can’t imagine how Blue Diamond could win it if they are really showing the Non-GMO logo on their products without having been certified by the Non-GMO Project. However, it would seem like this lawsuit is against Whole Foods and not against Blue Diamond? I guess Whole Foods Market could still be considered negligent for not checking since it is so easy to check for non-GMO Project certification; but, really, the primary party at fault in this scenario would be Blue Diamond.
– That Blue Diamond did go through the Non-GMO Project certification process but that the plaintiffs deem the certification process so inadequate (because, possibly, no actual laboratory testing was done?) that, despite the certification, the product on the shelves remains, de facto, mislabeled. While this may be an absurd expectation in some circumstances –such as if it can be verified that either the ingredients have no commercially released genetically engineered varieties available (how would you even know what to test for?) or that the ingredients cannot even be plausibly genetically engineered due to their very nature (google “monsalto crack team” and click the ‘I’m Feeling Lucky’ button) — , this is a separate issue than trademark counterfeiting. Additionally, in such a case I would have expected the plaintiffs to name the Non-GMO Project to be an additional, if not primary, defendant (if anything, in this scenario what would be at issue is the certification process of the Non-GMO Project and including Blue Diamond as a defendant would seem to me to border on the frivolous –much less Whole Foods, which is once more removed). This would also seem to be a very clear case and I can’t imagine how Whole Foods could lose it if Blue Diamond is really not misrepresenting their product’s certification status.
Speaking of the negligence not looking up easily available information, I just looked it up and the Non-GMO Project does list Blue Diamond Almond Breeze products as having been certified (google “products blue diamond site:nongmoproject.org” and click the ‘I’m Feeling Lucky’ button). This implies that this class action lawsuit must be alleging the second case (an inadequate certification process that results in mislabeling) rather than the first (trademark counterfeiting).
This leaves the question unanswered of why the Non-GMO Project (which is responsible for the certification process with which the plaintiffs presumably are taking issue) is not being sued and why Whole Foods Market (which has nothing to do the certification process with which the plaintiffs presumably are taking issue) is being sued instead? Is it merely a case of the lawyers in this case choosing a defendant on the basis of how likely they are to be able to extract large amounts of money from a given entity if they win?
As I have pondered my puzzlement about this case I have found one piece of information which makes me wonder if the peculiar nature of this case is due to simple incompetence on the part of the representing lawyers. What if there’s a third possibility that I had not considered above?
I have looked for pictures of the Non-GMO Project logo on Almond Breeze products online without finding it and, yesterday, I also have looked at actual packaging in a grocery store also without finding any trace of this logo. I have also found an interesting entry at the Blue Diamond website ((google “breeze packaging reflect certification”, click the ‘I’m Feeling Lucky’ button and click on the ‘About Our Ingredients’ hyperlink) where it states: “We are currently in the process of a packaging redesign/update to reflect our GMO-free certification.”.
Remember, the lawsuit is not against the Non-GMO Project or Blue Diamond but against Whole Foods Market. What if what the original plaintiff was upset about is not the fact that the Blue Diamond products have the Non-GMO Project logo but, rather, the fact that they do not have the Non-GMO Project logo?
Here’s what probably happened, they looked at promotional materials at Whole Foods Market shelves correctly touting the certification status of various Almond Breeze products, then they looked at the packaging and saw no logo and (wrongly) deduced that Whole Foods Market was ripping them off. Could that be what this absurd lawsuit is all about?
But if this is the case, it implies that the representing lawyers have not done something as simple as their basic homework to understand the basic facts of the case, like the certification status of the products in question, before actually filing a lawsuit! I understand this expectation is unrealistic from the offended customer but doing this sort of thing should be part of the job description for a lawyer. If you can’t trust a lawyer (or their team of legal researchers) to do such basic footwork, who can you trust? Consider that if this third possibility is what this lawsuit is really all about, they are suing Whole Foods Market for having more accurate labeling!
If this is what’s happening, the representing legal team should be embarrassed!
In any case, no scenario that I have been able to come up with, so far, actually makes any sense in this lawsuit given the facts as I understand them
To August, Now that was a much better post. You are obviously not an idiot, but I still don’t understand your problem with Whole Foods reflected in prior comments. While I will admit that the company has problems, it is still the best store out there when it comes to buying healthy food.
There is no such thing as a GMO Almond, so how does this suit have any merit whatsoever? But you can tell by the wording they are a nut case, claiming all sorts of bad things that never happened due to GMO’s.
Talk about frivolous. Such nonsense could be avoided if the whole ridiculous anti-GMO fear mongering was called out for what it is: Bad marketing by the organic and “non-GMO” industry.
It’s wrong. It’s unethical, and the press needs to stop giving such marketing tactics a free pass.
«Talk about frivolous. Such nonsense could be avoided if the whole ridiculous anti-GMO fear mongering was called out for what it is: Bad marketing by the organic and “non-GMO” industry.»
Is it “bad marketing” if it works? Or are you alleging that it does not work?
The lawsuit would appear to be frivolous and should be thrown out but this is a case of Whole Foods Market being hoisted by its own petard.
Oh, it works. It is also deeply dishonest and unethical, especially when it comes from a segment of an industry that pretends that it is more honest than its competitors. At the end of the day, it’s pure BS, and the fact that journalists haven’t called them on the BS is just ridiculous.
No disagreement with that part of your statement.
To Jimmy Jazz, You and August should get together. You are both idiots and completely full of BS. Also neither one of you would know a good thing if it bit you on your ass. Eat all the GMOs you want. Nobody will miss you here.
To August Pamplona, You seem like an idiot to me, Maybe you should do some research before you comment. You are welcome to eat and drink all the GMOs you want. I choose not to. Your comment is irresponsible.
what is the ingredient that is allegedly GMO? There are no GM almonds. Is this even a real suit?
The ingredients listed for Blue Diamnond Almond Breeze are as follows: Almond Milk (FILTERED WATER, ALMONDS), EVAPORATED CANE JUICE, CALCIUM CARBONATE, SEA SALT, POTASSIUM CITRATE, CARRAGEENAN, SUNFLOWER LECITHIN, VITAMIN A PALMITATE, VITAMIN D2, D-ALPHA-TOCOPHEROL (NATURAL VITAMIN E).
There are no ge almond varieties, but some people may believe that somehow ge traits from crops like corn might get incorporated even into unrelated items, like almonds, or perhaps pollen or other remnants of ge crops might be found on non ge crop surfaces and not be eliminated during processing. I am unaware whether any of the other ingredients might be derived from ge sources that might require verification they were acquired from non ge sources.
There might be a case here based on misrepresentation of the non-gmo verified if the product has not gone through the verification process, even if there were no mechanism by which ge traits or materials could be incorporated into almonds or this product.
There is not a case because it is a known and established fact that biotech applications to crop genetics cause all the ills alleged. The legal value of those claims are only to establish standing and perhaps the amount of damages they might claim. Since it is a class action, I presume that they want monetary compensation, not just to enjoin Blue Diamond from continuing with the Non-GMO verified claim. They do not have to prove that these claims of harm are true to win the case.
These claims of harm are incredibly specious and in fact contradicted by the weight of evidence, and in fact if the case hinged on whether these claims are true or even likely true, the plaintiff would likely lose badly. The more likely hope of linking damages to ge genetics is not because the ge process itself somehow corrupted the product, but through the linkage of possible damage due to herbicides exposure that are alleged to be amplified by their use in conjunction with companion herbicide tolerant genetics (not that the process was used but how it was used). Of course, breeding for herbicide tolerance is not unique to ge manipulation, some plants have natural tolerance to certain some herbicides, and herbicide tolerance has also been achieved through mutagenesis and crossbreeding even before ge arrived on the scene. Sunflowers are an example of the latter, acquiring tolerance for certain herbicides through a trait acquired by wide cross breeding between tolerant wild sunflowers and commercial sunflower varieties. So, switching to sunflower oil for frying to avoid using corn or soybean oil which may be sourced from herbicide tolerant ge varieties of those crops does not actually avoid herbicide tolerant crop sources.
If herbicide tolerance proves to be a legal liability, its implications would likely go beyond ge varieties. But because that fear of ge is out there, you can be certain there are ambulance chasers who smell blood in the water and are salivating at the prospect of cashing in on creating the next cigarette scare.
To Fellowtraveler, If GMOs are not dangerous, then why not label them? The pesticide suit would not have to prove damage, it should suffice to prove trespass. Nursing Mothers are finding glyphosate in their breast milk even when these Mothers are eating healthy. Thats because this poison in the air, and in the rain. Companies that create GMOs don’t care about your or my health, and neither does the FDA, CDC, USDA, of any of the ABCs of the Government. This is a very deep subject that requires massive amounts of study. GMOs are as much a poison as the poisons that they are resistant to, that all end up in our food supply, while our government agencies sit on their fat wallets that were fattened by GMO companies. There are very legitimate reasons to fear GMOs, but not one good reason to sue Whole Foods in this case.
If I can’t trust the non-GMO Project Verified seal, then what can I trust?
Go to the non-GMO project website for ones that actually are verified. If it is not, than any item with the sticker is counterfeit.
I don’t understand, am I missing something? I just went to the Non-GMO Project page and Blue Diamond Almond Milk is listed there as non-GMO verified. What is the lawsuit about? There are no GMO almonds…
This is about easy money for the dishonest lawyers
The courts should have thrown this out before it ever got started.
If you trust anti-GMO activists, well, you have a problem. The entire movement is based on lies intended to foment baseless fear. You can’t trust them.
To Jimmy Jazz, Maybe you should do some research before you comment. You are welcome to eat and drink all the GMOs you want. I choose not to. Your comment is irresponsible.
please keep me posted I’ve purchased this for over 1 and a half years.
…and those evil GMOs don’t seem to have any effect on you at all, have they? Maybe…just maybe…these GMO scare stories are actually scare stories designed by companies like Whole Foods to sell their overpriced goods?
or perhaps it takes a lot longer that 1.5 years before the effects of genetically engineered crops to be apparent. Prove to me beyond the shadow of a doubt that 200 years of inter-generational use is safe, and then maybe I will use them. Prove to me the pesticides we douse the food with are safe too.
Why ask a random commenter on an article to prove these things to you? There’s already plenty of science out there done by, you know, SCIENTISTS, proving that GMOs/pesticides are safe. That is, if you’re actually interested in learning something and changing your stance.
I see you plan on living significantly beyond 200 years then.
There is nothing that we eat today that has been “proven safe for 200 years”. You are not making any sense.
It’s just his way of admitting that *no* amount of evidence will ever convince him; therefore, he suggests his mind will be changed if presented with more evidence than can ever be realistically produced. Much like anti-vaccine nutjobs and their stance towards vaccines.
Tell my poor body that.It thinks these GMO `s it’s taken in is causing all my diseases of all my organs,and pain in my guts, milk allergies, and more and I’m only 55 yrs. Old and I am obese from eating these contaminated foods. It’s in all processed foods and most milk and animals fed grains that have been genetically altered. The proof is in the 44,000 pages of documents from government FDA and the papers they had from Monsanto that were marked read and destroy. The FDA had a person that worked for Monsanto in charge of this and the FDA did not test these foods, they just accepted a letter from Monsanto telling them that these genetically altered foods were safe for human consumption. Then that person went back to work for Monsanto and now he’s back at the FDA. What are they planning to kill us with now. No other developed countries allow food made using GMO s. They have been trying to get our government to stop allowing it. But it’s big money to be made , so of coarse that’s more important than human life. It also causes Autism in children and more food allergies as their bodies immune systems try to fight against these GMO foods. It’s in soy based formula , because genetically altered soybeans are made to be able to withstand any number of applications of Round Up weed killer and that toxin has been found in the body of infants.Wake up America. Buy Organic and products which have not been genetically altered. r.B.S.T. listed on milk label (small print) means it is genetically altered.Also a lot of corn has been genetically altered to kill insects by poisoning their guts. Some wheat has been genetically altered to use any amounts of weed killer on it. I say I’m changing the way I shop for food . I think Farmers should stop purchasing GMO Seed and GMO grain to feed dairy and food animals. Christians ask yourself this. What would Jesus Do? What would God do? Though shalt not kill. It’s easier for a rich man to go through the eye of a needle than it is for him to be accepted in Heaven.I am not talking about the Blue Diamond Almond Milk. I have never drank any or bought any. I was actually considering it. I’m gonna check it out further.
Maybe you should do some research before you comment. You are welcome to eat and drink all the GMOs you want. I choose not to. Your comment is irresponsible.
To Modemac, Maybe you should do some research before you comment. You are welcome to eat and drink all the GMOs you want. I choose not to. Your comment is irresponsible.
PLEASE KEEP ME POSTED. I HAVE BEEN PURCHASING THIS PRODUCT.
Keep me up to date, i go threw 3 of these a week
Where do you throw them, and why? Is it a new community sport of some kind?
thanks Jimmy, haven’t laughed that hard all week!
LMAO
Just all of you keep buying. You have to understand that “class actions lawsuits” are just a easy money for the dishonest lawyers, cant get any other job so made ease for them to scam and hurt business. If this lady is so sure that this product can harm you she should hire a her own lawyer, but not this is just a game of the class action lawsuits, they find a friend to make a claim and pay them little money and lawyers collect huge chunk of $$$$. You ask yourself why prices go up? all this lawsuits are responsible for it.
People get blinded with a coupon or few dollars they get but on the end you pay much more.