Two lawsuits have been filed against the sandwich company Pret a Manger in the US, claiming it deceptively labelled and marketed breads as “natural” when they contained glyphosate.
The “false and misleading” practice suits come after it emerged that a teenager who was severely allergic to sesame died at London’s Heathrow airport in 2016, after eating an unlabelled Pret sandwich that contained the ingredient.
In the US case, lab tests allegedly found traces of glyphosate – a biocide in Monsanto’s widely used Roundup weedkiller – in Harvest oatmeal raisin cookies, egg salad and arugula sandwiches, and other products made with the chain’s nine-grain granary bread.
A court in San Francisco last month ordered Monsanto to pay a non-Hodgkins lymphoma sufferer $289m (£220m) in damages after a jury ruled that his cancer had been caused by exposure to Roundup.
The Organic Consumers Association (OCA), a plaintiff in the latest case, cited surveys showing that consumers expected the word “natural” to mean pesticide-free products.
“Companies like Pret a Manger know this,” the OCA’s international director, Ronnie Cummins, told the Guardian. “By describing their products or brands as ‘natural’, they are knowingly deceiving consumers in order to sell more product, and charge higher prices. We believe consumers should know the truth about this advertising tactic, and about what is actually in the food they are buying.”
For more read the full of article at The Guardian