{"id":2678,"date":"2024-08-10T21:54:25","date_gmt":"2024-08-11T05:54:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aladaymobilemedia.com\/?p=2678"},"modified":"2024-08-10T21:54:25","modified_gmt":"2024-08-11T05:54:25","slug":"organic-consumers-association-takes-legal-action-against-west-pak-avocado-and-fresh-del-monte-produce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aladaymobilemedia.com\/de\/organic-consumers-association-takes-legal-action-against-west-pak-avocado-and-fresh-del-monte-produce\/","title":{"rendered":"Organic Consumers Association Takes Legal Action Against West Pak Avocado and Fresh Del Monte Produce"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
courtesy Organic Consumers Association<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Organic Consumers Association, with Richman Law & Policy, sue West Pak Avocado and Fresh Del Monte Produce Over Misleading Sustainability and Responsibly Sourced Marketing Claims that Obscure Illegal Deforestation<\/em><\/p>\n

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<\/strong><\/p>\n

August\u00a05, 2024 \u2013 Washington, D.C. \u2013 Organic Consumers Association and Richman Law & Policy filed separate complaints against West Pak Avocado and Fresh Del Monte Produce on August 2, 2024, in the District of Columbia Superior Court. The complaints alleges that both avocado importers, in violation of the District of Columbia Consumer Protection Procedures Act, deceptively market their avocados as \u201csustainable\u201d and \u201cresponsibly sourced\u201d when they are in reality driving deforestation in the Mexican states of Michoac\u00e1n and Jalisco, where all\u00a0Mexican avocados sold in the United States are exported from.<\/p>\n

West Pak Avocado, the complaint alleges, misleads consumers by claiming that it is \u201ccommitted to growing avocados without forest clearing,\u201d and that its mission is to bring \u201csustainably, and responsibly sourced avocados to consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n

West Pak claims to be the \u201ctrusted leader in avocados,\u201d and represents on its website that it \u201cwork[s] hard to ensure [its] avocados are, grown, processed, and delivered safely, fairly, and responsibly . . . [and its] respect for people and nature enables [the] company to grow and prosper over the long term in harmony with the needs of communities and ecosystems.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite these claims, Mexican government shipping records and satellite imagery indicate that West Pak sources its avocados from multiple orchards grown on illegally deforested land in Michoac\u00e1n. For example, , the satellite images below illustrate that one of the orchards from which West Pak sourced avocados in 2022 was covered with native forest in 2015.<\/p>\n

Del Monte, the complaint alleges, misleads consumers by claiming that its products, including its avocados,\u00a0are sourced responsibly and sustainably and that its growers \u201cimplement the best practices that protect the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Del Monte claims on its website that \u201csustainability isn\u2019t just a word, it\u2019s woven into every fiber of our business\u201d and that its \u201cbusiness is built on agriculture and ecosystems thriving together.\u201d Despite these claims, Mexican government shipping records and satellite imagery indicate that Del Monte sources its avocados from multiple orchards grown on deforested land in Michoac\u00e1n. For example, the satellite images below illustrate that one of the orchards from which Del Monte sourced avocados in 2022 was covered with native forest in 2011.<\/p>\n

Avocado orchards accounted for about one-fifth of the deforestation in Michoac\u00e1n and neighboring Jalisco between 2001 and 2017. This deforestation impacts the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt Pine-Oak Forests ecoregion. Most famous for being the winter nesting grounds of the monarch butterfly, it is also home to rare birds, amphibians and reptiles, as well as 50 percent of Mexico\u2019s unique mammal species.<\/p>\n

see rest of article here\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

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Organic Consumers Association, with Richman Law & Policy, sue West Pak Avocado and Fresh Del Monte Produce Over Misleading Sustainability and Responsibly Sourced Marketing Claims that Obscure Illegal Deforestation FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August\u00a05, 2024 \u2013 Washington, D.C. \u2013 Organic Consumers Association and Richman Law & Policy filed separate complaints against West Pak Avocado and Fresh […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[176,250,235],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-avocado","category-deforestation","category-organic-consumers-association"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.1","language":"de","enabled_languages":["en","es","de","fr","ru"],"languages":{"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"es":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false},"de":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false},"fr":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false},"ru":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aladaymobilemedia.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aladaymobilemedia.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aladaymobilemedia.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aladaymobilemedia.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aladaymobilemedia.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2678"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/aladaymobilemedia.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2682,"href":"https:\/\/aladaymobilemedia.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2678\/revisions\/2682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aladaymobilemedia.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aladaymobilemedia.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aladaymobilemedia.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}