You may be having second thoughts about eating the berries in your fridge after CBC News spoke with a whistleblower who made a startling claim about the amount of chemicals on fruit that a U.S. company allegedly shipped to Canada.
David Harada, a former employee for California-based Driscoll's, alleged in a lawsuit that about half of the company's exports to Canada contained pesticide levels that exceeded Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) standards.
Driscoll's supplies raspberries, strawberries, blueberries and blackberries that are largely grown in California and Mexico, but with some products coming from other places seasonally — including parts of Canada.
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Harada says the excess chemical levels were due to over-spraying and the removal of food safety compliance parameters for berries sent to Canada.
The CFIA confirmed higher-than-permissible levels of pesticides on the company's berries. Driscoll's has said that it's amended its controls to comply with Canadian standards.
But that may not be enough to put some Canadian consumers' minds at ease, especially parents. Meanwhile, food safety experts say this has prompted an important conversation about the chemicals used on the produce we eat.
Here's a quick look at what you need to know.
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