"US Importers Sued for ‘Greenwashing’ Mexican Avocados", 9 July 2025

...[T]he non-profit Organic Consumers Association (OCA) fired the first shots, filing lawsuits in 2024 against four of the biggest avocado importers: Calavo, Mission, West Pak, and Fresh Del Monte. These companies import avocados from Mexico and supply them to major supermarket chains throughout the U.S., including Costco, Walmart, Trader Joe’s, and Whole Foods. OCA claims statements on these companies’ websites and social media that their avocados are sourced responsibly and sustainably are untrue...

... In February, Calavo Growers, Mission Produce, and West Pak Avocado pledged not to buy avocados grown on recently cleared land as part of a new Mexican certification scheme.

OCA subsequently dropped its case against West Pak, saying the company had agreed to stop using the “challenged marketing claims and to employ enhanced due diligence mechanisms to identify and stop sourcing from orchards in Mexico identified as existing on land that has been deforested since January 1, 2018.

But it maintains that the other three companies continue to mislead the public. The lawsuit against Del Monte was allowed to proceed in February after a court denied the company’s attempt to dismiss it, rejecting arguments that the link between OCA and Del Monte was too tenuous to bring a claim. The other two claims, against Calavo and Mission Produce, are still pending.

The Del Monte lawsuit notes that people are becoming increasingly concerned about the impacts of their food. Consumers, says the filing, are motivated to buy produce marketed as “sustainable” and are often willing to pay more for it or to buy more of it. “Corporations that market these products, such as Del Monte, are keenly aware of this consumer willingness,” the filing states.

OCA says it is bringing the claim on behalf of consumers in the District of Columbia and is not seeking monetary damages. Instead, it wants the court to declare Del Monte’s practices false and deceptive and to order it to stop...

None of the companies subject to lawsuits responded to requests for comment. Reuters was also rebuffed by nine major U.S. supermarkets and food chains it contacted in a report last year about avocado supply chains; only Amazon’s Whole Foods Market responded in that report that it was actively working with its suppliers to “prioritize Fair Trade certified and other responsibly sourced avocados.”