The allegation relates to its ‘environmentally friendly’ banana-growing practices, when in fact Dole purchases bananas from growers whose operations have destroyed wetlands and poisoned water sources with pesticides in Guatemala.
Dole Food voted top company for worker equity policies
The lawsuit, filed on November 13, in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, alleges that in spite of Dole’s promises to act as a safe and sustainable company in communities where its products are grown, the company knowingly purchased bananas from a plantation in Guatemala that devastated the local environment and community.
In one example cited in the complaint filed by Steve Berman, managing partner of the Seattle law firm Hagens Berman, a contractor who supplies Dole with approximately 290 million pounds of bananas built a dam in the Department of San Marcos in Guatemala to protect its banana and oil-palm plantations. The complaint alleges the dam caused extensive flooding, and that development of the plantation included draining 1,200 acres of pristine wetlands.
Berman said: “Dole promised its customers it had an ‘unwavering commitment’ to environmental responsibility. Yet, it gave its business to a plantation that showed a complete disregard for the local environment.”
The lawsuit alleges that the dam resulted in severe flooding downstream from the banana plantation, destroying local farmers’ crops and causing significant economic losses.
Source: Hagens Berman
© FoodBev Media Ltd 2024