You should never judge a book by its cover—and now it seems like you should also never judge a Whole Foods product by the claims on its packaging, apparently. Although the Amazon-owned company’s 42 beef products boast to have “No Antibiotics, Ever,” a lawsuit filed on Tuesday in Santa Ana, California says otherwise.
Whole Foods Beef Reportedly Contains Antibiotics
That's right: three consumers (Peymon Khaghani, Jason Rose, and Sara Safari) and an animal welfare nonprofit called Farm Forward are suing Whole Foods because the beef sold in their stores allegedly does contain antibiotics, along with other "pharmaceutical residue." So much for "none, ever"! The evidence reportedly comes from laboratory testing conducted on samples of the meat from Chicago, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, and Virginia in 2021 and 2022.
So, what exactly is the issue with antibiotics, and why would Whole Foods claim their beef has none? The plaintiffs say that when cattle are treated with antibiotics, "serious health risks" arise when that beef ends up on our plates. This is because consumers will ingest antibiotic-resistant bacteria and, in turn, may end up with antibiotic-resistant infections. Yikes!
It's no wonder why Whole Foods would market their beef products as antibiotic-free, but this evidence proving otherwise puts them in hot water. The complaint says that the store charges price premiums based on this claim. Now the plaintiffs are asking the company not only to fix the false marketing, but also to pay compensation to misled consumers.
