The CEO of the largest berry company in the world has stepped down amid controversy and lawsuits about the firm’s use of pesticides.
Soren Bjorn, who has served as CEO of Watsonville, CA, based Driscoll’s Inc. will be replaced by Brie Reiter Smith, effective immediately. Smith is the great-granddaughter of one of Driscoll’s co-founders and the daughter of former CEO J. Miles Reiter.
The switch in leadership comes amid a growing legal storm over allegations that Driscoll’s berries contain toxic “forever chemicals.”
Driscoll’s is facing a consumer fraud class-action lawsuit accusing the company of deceptive marketing over alleged pesticide and PFAS contamination in its strawberries. The lawsuit, filed by six consumers from New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Illinois, claims laboratory testing of Driscoll’s strawberries found residues from 12 pesticides at levels prohibited in the European Union and several other countries.
Eight of the chemicals identified in the testing were described in the report as PFAS, a class of highly persistent chemicals commonly dubbed “forever chemicals.”
In addition to the class action suit, the company has long faced complaints from local activists who oppose the use of pesticides near schools, and are calling for more fields to be converted to organic. State law limits pesticide use within a quarter-mile of schools, but gaseous fumigants can drift on the wind for miles if there is a leak from the tarps in open fields that are meant to trap the fumes.
Decades of research have shown links between certain pesticides and cancer, as well as learning disabilities, lowered IQ and other neurological effects.
In recent months Driscoll’s, and Smith published a full-page opinion letter in the print versions of the Santa Cruz Sentinel on June 16 and June 17, asking activists to stop targeting Driscoll’s and its leaders and owners.
“The story being told about Driscoll’s, my family, and the farming community feels so disconnected from the reality I have experienced my entire life,” she wrote. “We continue to expand organic production, (and) are actively investing in ways to reduce our reliance on traditional pesticides.”
The class action lawsuit is not the only court action that has been filed against the berry giant. A whistleblower complaint was filed in July by David Harada, Driscoll’s former manager of food safety and regulatory compliance for the United States and Canada.
Harada claims he was wrongfully fired after raising concerns that some growers were allegedly violating state, federal and international pesticide limits.
According to court documents reviewed by the California Post, Harada alleges that after warning executives about produce allegedly being sold or exported in violation of food-safety and pesticide laws, he was told to prioritize profits and create “plausible deniability” rather than address the alleged violations.
Company leadership
Smith assumed the role of vice chair of the company’s board of directors in January, and has worked in various roles across the company for more than a decade.
She previously grew blueberries in Chile, oversaw quality and product leadership across the Americas, and served as a director and vice chair of the board.
Driscoll’s is a privately held family business owned by the descendants of its founding families, the Reiters and the Driscolls.
J. Miles Reiter serves as the Executive Chairman of the board,
Rather than owning all of its farms directly, Driscoll’s licenses its proprietary berry breeds to a global network of independent family growers.