Ahold Delhaize subsidiary Hannaford, a grocery chain located in the Northeast U.S., has become the latest company to be targeted by a civil lawsuit over its seafood sustainability claims.
A federal suit, filed in the state of New York, alleges Hannaford and Ahold Delhaize’s marketing of its farmed salmon as sustainable is misleading consumers.
“In reality, Hannaford sells industrially farmed salmon whose production inflicts grave harms on pristine marine ecosystems and has caused the destruction of marine life around the world, from Canada to Chile,” the complaint states. “No reasonable consumer would believe that such farmed salmon products are sustainable.”
The plaintiff in the case, Kathleen Boyle, is being represented by advocacy group FarmSTAND, along with the Center for Food Safety, Reese LLP, and Jennings & Earley PLLC.
FarmSTAND alleges Hannaford salmon supplier Cooke Aquaculture is “notorious for converting Maine’s seabed into fish feedlots” and that its other suppliers in Chile are “plagued with many of the same issues.”
“Maine people deserve to know what they are eating and how the food they put on their tables is produced,” Protect Maine’s Fishing Heritage Foundation Executive Director Crystal Canney said in a release. “We trust that the lawsuit against Hannaford over alleged deceptive marketing will encourage Hannaford to take a hard look at all of the claims it makes about its open net-pen farmed salmon products and to do its due diligence in understanding and accurately communicating the true environmental, animal welfare, and food system impacts of Cooke’s practices to their customers.”
Canney has been a vocal opponent of aquaculture operations in Maine and has opposed aquaculture legislation in the state and questioned state actions on Cooke mortality events. Canney and Protect Maine’s Fishing Heritage Foundation were also a supporting organization in a Conservation Law Foundation lawsuit against Cooke over alleged water pollution, a lawsuit which recently survived Cooke’s motion to dismiss.
The foundation also participated in opposition to American Aquafarms’ proposed salmon farm in Frenchman’s Bay, Maine.
The lawsuit is the latest in a string of similar civil lawsuits against retailers and seafood companies claiming their advertising of seafood as sustainable is misleading consumers.
U.S. food supplier Conagra was the target of a lawsuit alleging its Marine Stewardship Council certification on Mrs. Paul’s and Van de Kamp’s seafood products – two brands it owned at the time prior to their sale to High Liner Foods – is deceptive. Environmentalists also targeted the Tasmanian salmon industry, claiming it was greenwashing its products, and a recent lawsuit against Amazon alleges several seafood brands selling on the platform misleadingly use sustainability claims.
A recent study by Make Stewardship Count argues the seafood industry is likely to increasingly come up against lawsuits related to seafood certifications.
