November 6, 2024 — U.S. food supplier Conagra has agreed to settle a class action lawsuit which alleged the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification label on its Mrs. Paul’s and Van de Kamp’s frozen seafood products is deceptive.
In a status hearing in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on 5 November, the two parties – Conagra and plaintiffs John Bohen and Abdallah Nasser – “report they have settled but need more time to finalize settlement,” a court document said.
March 28, 2024 — A federal judge on Monday said ConAgra Brands must face a lawsuit claiming it misled U.S. consumers into believing that nine Mrs. Paul’s and Van de Kamp’s fish products were sustainably sourced.
U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall in Chicago rejected ConAgra’s argument that the phrase “Good for the Environment” on packaging was “puffery,” meaning an overstatement or exaggeration that could not support the proposed class action.
Consumers alleged that ConAgra sourced pollock in the Bering Sea from Russian fisheries that used huge nets – sometimes larger than two American football fields – to catch fish, and indiscriminately trapped and killed endangered fish species.
They said this rendered “meaningless” ConAgra’s claim on packaging that the nonprofit Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) had certified the fisheries as sustainable.
February 21, 2024 — A series of lawsuits related to sustainability claims and eco-labels have changed the seafood industry’s approach to marketing sustainability bona fides. Lawsuits filed against Mowi, Gorton’s, ALDI, Conagra, Bumble Bee Foods, and Red Lobster are either pending or have resulted in settlements.
The suits should be a wake-up call to the seafood industry that it needs to change its marketing practices, according to Arlin Wasserman – the founder and managing director of Changing Tastes, a seafood industry consultancy working at the intersection of sustainability, public health, information technology, demographics, and the changing role of the culinary professional. Wasserman, who was previously the vice president of sustainability at foodservice provider Sodexo, recently discussed how companies can adapt and modernize their marketing campaigns with SeafoodSource.
March 8, 2023 — Class-action lawsuits have been filed against Bumble Bee Foods and Conagra Brands over sustainability claims they made for their seafood products. The separate complaints, filed in federal district courts in the U.S. states of Illinois and California, each ask for at least USD 5 million (EUR 4.7 million) in damages.
The complaints also heavily criticize the Marine Stewardship Council, alleging it “blatantly violates its own standards and puts the very ecosystem MSC feigns to protect in serious danger.”