Full Breakdown
Driscoll’s Faces Quebec Class-Action Over Pesticide Residues in Berries
By Drooid · · How we work
Core Event: Proposed Quebec Class-Action Against Driscoll’s
Lawyers have asked a Quebec Superior Court judge to certify a class-action lawsuit targeting Driscoll’s, the U.S. fruit producer. The filing, on behalf of a Quebec resident who consumes the company’s berries, alleges that Driscoll’s shipped millions of pounds of strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries to Canada between 2022 and 2024 with pesticide residues that exceeded the limits set by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). The complaint claims the company failed to inform consumers of the excess residues and made misleading representations about the safety of its products. The suit seeks to represent all Quebec consumers who bought Driscoll’s berries and to obtain reduced obligations and punitive damages.
Background & Context
The allegations stem from a whistleblower, former Driscoll’s employee David Harada, who filed a lawsuit in California asserting that roughly half of the company’s exports to Canada contained pesticide levels above CFIA standards. Harada says the excess resulted from over-spraying and the removal of safety parameters for Canadian shipments. The CFIA confirmed that its inspections of Driscoll’s berries sold in grocery stores across Canada during 2022-2024 detected residues of bifenthrin, iprodione and captan above the legal limits, although the agency reported that the inspections did not trigger product recalls and were closed without corrective action.
Driscoll’s has previously faced a separate consumer-fraud class action filed earlier in the year by plaintiffs in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Illinois, which alleges “greenwashing” of forever-chemical (PFAS) content on its strawberries.
Official Statements & Responses
- Driscoll’s said it has amended its controls to meet Canadian standards.
- Lawyers’ filing: Plaintiffs’ counsel argued that the “failure to disclose crucial information” and “misleading representations” about the berries constitute “highly reprehensible practices” that merit punitive damages.
- CFIA position: The agency confirmed that inspections uncovered pesticide levels above the permissible limits but clarified that no recalls were issued and the investigations were closed without further action.
Conflicting Reports & Gaps
The CFIA’s statement that inspections did not lead to recalls contrasts with the plaintiffs’ claim that Driscoll’s attempted to conceal the excess residues. No independent third-party testing results have been released to verify the extent of non-compliance.
What’s Next
A Quebec Superior Court judge must determine whether the lawsuit meets the legal criteria for class-action certification; the court has indicated that this decision could take at least a year. If authorized, the case could proceed to trial, potentially influencing Driscoll’s compliance practices across North America. Meanwhile, the separate U.S. class action continues its own discovery phase, and the company’s amended safety controls remain under observation by regulators and consumer-advocacy groups.