Whistleblower alleges millions of Driscoll’s berries sent to Canada with excess chemical levels

Driscoll’s berries are on many Canadians’ plates and all over Canadian grocery stores, with their tagline claiming to be “only the finest berries.”

But a whistleblower lawsuit in California alleges the finest berries were not sent to Canada: instead, millions of pounds of fruit containing non-compliant levels of pesticides and chemicals crossed the border, and the company tried to cover it up.

California resident and former Driscoll’s employee David Harada claims in the lawsuit that by Driscoll’s own estimates, about 50 per cent of all shipments to Canada from 2022 to 2024 had fruit that exceeded Canadian safety levels. 

“And it’s something where you start seeing it so regularly and you know that something’s not right that you have to speak up,” Harada said in an interview with CBC News. 

Harada was Driscoll’s manager of food safety and regulatory compliance for the U.S. and Canada. He filed a lawsuit for unlawful retaliation against Driscoll’s. In the lawsuit’s filing, Harada said he felt that he was being set up to be the “scapegoat” for compliance issues and that he was being retaliated against for speaking up. 

Harada told CBC he first started noticing problems regarding pesticide safety and over-application in 2022 and reported them immediately to his bosses. He says he brought his concerns to upper management but was told it was something he’d have to manage. 

“I had a conversation with my director as to whether or not they had plausible deniability regarding this issue,” Harada said. 

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) confirmed to CBC News it conducted several inspections on Driscoll’s berries sold in grocery stores across the country between 2022-24 and found chemical levels above the legal limit in Canada. 

The chemicals include bifenthrin, iprodione and captan: fungicides and insecticides.  

However, the CFIA says the inspections did not lead to recalls, or a corrective action was implemented and the investigations were closed.

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Some investigations were also triggered after reports of suspected illness after eating Driscoll’s blueberries, or by complaints of chemical taste and smell. The CFIA said the reported illness could not be definitively linked to the berries. 

“The cases you have identified involve different products, pesticide residues, importers and locations over a period of several years,” the CFIA wrote in an email to CBC News. “The presence of the Driscoll’s brand on the products does not, on its own, establish that the non-compliances originated from a single producer or source.” 

The CFIA says it takes appropriate action depending on the magnitude of the health risk. 

Whistleblower alleges Driscoll’s sent millions of berries with excess chemical levels to Canada

Actions include notifying the producer or importer, the specific supplier and follow-up inspections. 

Recalls are issued if Health Canada determines that a product poses an unacceptable health risk.

Stéphane Bayen, an associate professor in the department of food science and agricultural chemistry at McGill University says berries are often found to have chemical residues above the legal limit. 

“That’s not something abnormal completely, but definitely that’s not what we would like to see and we want to reduce this,” Bayen said.

“Exceedance one time of the maximum residue limit might not be translated as a risk for the health of consumers. That’s where the discussion needs to happen and to make sure that this is not becoming a regular thing.” 

Toxicologist Daniel Green says the levels of chemicals found in the CFIA-tested berries wouldn’t make someone sick from eating just a few. 

“To get an effect, one would have to eat 19 kilograms,” Green said from one example. 

Green says the problem is the exposure to all other toxins combined over time: from food and the environment. 

“It is the chemical lifetime exposure experience that has to be looked at,” Green said. 

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That’s what worries Harada and motivated him to speak out. 

He believes the potentially tainted berries crossed the border because in 2022, Driscoll’s removed the food safety and compliance tracking system it had for Canada in order to sell more here.  

Harada says that the system ensures there is enough time between the last application of pesticides on the fruit and when it’s picked — which allows enough time for chemicals to break down, preventing residues from being over the legal limit. 

He accused Driscoll’s of wilfully concealing information about the berries’ toxicity levels and told them in order to fix all the issues, the company needed to go public about the violations and potential harms and issue recalls.

“I completely believe that I was part of a coverup because they chose not to disclose this information publicly,” Harada told CBC News. 

Even though Harada says the company asked him to reinstate the tracking system, they didn’t go public and he says he was pushed to resign. 

In an email to CBC, Driscoll’s says it cannot comment on the details of Harada’s employment due to confidentiality issues. But it said it “remains confident that the complete factual record will demonstrate that it responded correctly to the concerns Mr. Harada raised, at all times acted in good faith, and at all times conducted itself appropriately.”

It also denies removing the food safety tracking system and other allegations in Harada’s lawsuit, adding the company has never knowingly shipped products it believed to be unsafe.

“There will be an appropriate time in the litigation for Driscoll’s to present its own evidence, which we believe will show a very different picture from the one Mr. Harada has presented publicly,” Driscoll’s statement read in part. 

Harada says it has not been easy living with the stigma of being a whistleblower, but he thinks  it was the right call.

“Canada as a whole deserves more and consumers of any products deserve to feel safe when consuming it,” he said.