A national class action lawsuit was filed last week in connection with recalled listeriosis-contaminated plant-based milks.
“They’ve known for a year that the problem exists, and they didn’t say anything until this month,” says Joey Zukran, the lawyer with the Montreal firm LPC Avocats who filed the class action request at the Montreal courthouse on July 18.
The document names as defendants Danone, which produces the recalled plant-based milks, and Walmart, which owns the Great Value brand, under which some of the recalled products were sold.
According to the lawyer, Danone and Walmart should have notified consumers of the contamination well before July. “It’s as if they kept quiet about it for fear of tarnishing their reputation,” he adds.
The class action lawsuit applies to “all persons in Canada who purchased various Silk and Great Value brand refrigerated plant-based beverages recalled due to Listeria monocytogenes,” the document reads.
Joey Zukran is demanding that Danone and Walmart provide financial compensation to the many customers who have been affected by the contamination. [Les entreprises] “They did a poor job and generally handled the recall like amateurs,” he said.
Affected customers
Christiane Rioux, who has been buying Silk and Great Value products at Walmart “for a long time,” began having digestive problems last fall. By spring, the discomfort had become so severe that the Montrealer asked to reduce the dose of antidepressants and antacids she takes daily.
It was in an email from Walmart that Christiane Rioux learned that the products she was consuming could contain listeria. “They said very little, it gives the impression that they are hiding something from us,” she adds.
Christiane Rioux laments that she hasn’t been able to get a refund for all the cartons of contaminated milk she bought over the year. Walmart and Danone’s recall forms ask for a photo of the product as proof of purchase. “How do you expect me to have kept all that?” she asks.
An important reminder
The listeriosis outbreak that prompted the product recall resulted in two deaths between August 2023 and early July 2024, according to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).
In total, 18 Silk and Great Value brand plant-based milk products, in 1.75 or 1.89 litre formats, are subject to a recall launched by the CFIA on July 8.
The products in question were manufactured in Ontario and distributed by Danone Canada, which says it has preemptively suspended all production and shipping from this third-party facility in order to conduct a thorough investigation.
“We are deeply concerned by this situation and we take it very seriously,” said Frédéric Guichard, president of Danone Canada, in a statement.
“Currently, through this rapid recall, our efforts are focused on ensuring consumer protection, and conducting a thorough investigation with our third-party manufacturer.”
With The Canadian Press