A class-action lawsuit contending Gloucester, Massachusetts, U.S.A.-based Gorton’s has used deceptive seafood marketing regarding their sustainability claims is requesting more than USD 5 million (EUR 4.7 million) in damages.
Jeffrey Alan Spindel and Kevin McCarthy, plaintiffs in the complaint recently filed in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, have claimed that, although Gorton’s tilapia products are labeled “sustainably sourced,” they are not.
In reality, the products are made from tilapia that are industrially farmed using unsustainable practices that are “environmentally destructive and inhumane,” the complaint said.
The plaintiffs’ counsel, Pontikes Law and Richman Law and Policy, conducted independent laboratory testing and found the toxin ethoxyquin in a sample of the product. Routinely used as a preservative in industrial fish feed, ethoxyquin has been banned from use in animal feed in the European Union because “it has not been established that the additive does not have an adverse effect on animals,” the complaint said.
“Upon information and belief, the products are made from tilapia sourced, at least in part, from China. Tilapia are not native to China – instead, these tilapia are raised in, and sourced from, large industrial fish farms known for their unsustainable production methods,” according to the complaint.
The Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch specifically warns consumers to avoid tilapia farmed in China due to sustainability concerns, the complaint said.
“Tilapia farms in China use primarily an ecologically dangerous method of tilapia production known as pond aquaculture, in which thousands of fish are crowded into shallow ponds,” the complaint said.
Gorton’s does not comment on pending litigation, Gorton’s Vice President of Marketing Chris Hussey told SeafoodSource.
Rebecca Pontikes with Pontikes Law did not return emails from SeafoodSource. Richman Law and Policy has brought several other similar complaints against seafood suppliers and retailers. Toxin Free USA, represented by Richman Law, filed a complaint in early 2021 alleging that Aldi's use of the phrase "Simple. Sustainable. Seafood." on its Atlantic salmon products “leads consumers to believe that the salmon was farmed in accordance with high environmental and animal welfare standards, but in reality, the salmon are sourced unsustainably.”
This February, U.S. Superior Court for the District of Columbia Judge Heidi Pasichow rejected Aldi’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
Similarly, a federal judge in Washington, District of Columbia, denied Cooke Aquaculture’s motions to dismiss a lawsuit challenging True North’s sustainability claims and Cooke’s animal welfare claims.
The lawsuit, filed in January 2020, accuses Cooke Aquaculture, its True North Seafood brand, and Wanchese Fish Company of deceiving consumers by falsely claiming to produce salmon using methods that are "sustainable," "natural," and follow "optimal" animal welfare standards.
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