In Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc. v. Del Monte Foods Co., Southern District of New York Judge Sidney H. Stein enjoined Del Monte Corp. from mislabeling products in a fashion designed to suggest that they contain fresh fruit when in fact the products do not. The injunction comes approximately one year after a jury awarded $13 million to competitor Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc. – a company that in 1989 Del Monte spun off – in a trademark and false advertising case.
In particular, the court found that labeling food “Must be Refrigerated” when it was in fact “shelf stable” misled consumers as did putting deceptive expiration dates on foods. Stores with existing stocks of offending products were ordered not to sell them under refrigeration. Del Monte was also prohibited from pasteurizing products or adding preservatives without so indicating on the products’ labels.
Del Monte contended that the injunction was unnecessary because it had already stopped engaging in the offending practices that led to the jury verdict. Judge Stein disagreed, because he believed that future violations could occur. He based his decision on his conclusion that Del Monte’s violations were willful and that it did not stop its misleading practices until it had lost at trial. The evidence, the court found, showed that Del Monte executives adopted a “what [they could] get away with” standard in misleading buyers about the freshness of their products.