A lawsuit has been filed and is seeking class action status against the six grocery chains for allegedly injecting dye into farm raised salmon to make it appear more palatable. The lawsuit is being presented before the California Superior Court and claims consumers bought unlabeled dyed salmon that was sold by the nation's largest and most sophisticated grocery chains.
Federal and California state laws require suppliers to clearly label salmon containing dye. However, officials from the Food and Drug Administration and the California Department of Public Health acknowledge that because of limited resources, they do not actively enforce the rule. In 2006, a consumer advocacy group tested salmon advertised as wild in markets in the Northeast and found that about half contained dye without labels disclosing the fact.
The lawsuit claims Albertsons, Bristol Farms, Costco, Safeway, Trader Joe's, and Whole Foods Market formed an unlikely alliance and failed to clearly distinguish salmon caught in the wild from its farm-raised cousin, which is injected with red dye to appear more palatable.
