Paramount Files Lawsuit Against California Pistachio Commission

Paramount Files Lawsuit Against California Pistachio Commission

Challenges Constitutionality of CPC's Forced Assessments

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Paramount Farms, Inc., and several of its affiliates, today filed a lawsuit against the California Pistachio Commission (CPC) in U.S. District Court seeking relief from the mandatory assessments levied by the CPC and used to fund generic advertising and marketing campaigns as well as the government relations initiatives.

Paramount alleges in its filing that "pursuant to California law and under threat of severe financial penalty, Plaintiffs have been forced (and continue to be forced) to pay millions of dollars in annual assessments" to the CPC for advertising campaigns and government relations initiatives it vehemently opposes and believes have actually harmed California pistachio growers.

"The CPC programs are totally ineffective and will just not get us where we need to be," said Chris Tuffli, Paramount Farms' Communications Director. "It is critical that, as an industry, we move beyond the CPC's commodity mindset and set our sights on the bigger goal of stimulating consumer demand and that is why we have taken these actions today."

Tuffli said Paramount strongly believes the CPC advertising and promotional campaigns are ineffective because they position pistachios as a commodity product. Paramount believes pistachios can and must be marketed as a branded, packaged consumer good, sold to and enjoyed by consumers all year long, rather than just for limited times such as special events and the holidays.

Pistachio production has increased dramatically over the last several years, reaching 300 million pounds in 2002 and 350 million pounds in 2004. Industry projections are for production to continue increasing. Paramount believes that the current CPC advertising and promotional campaigns will not build sufficient demand to meet the expected production increases.

"For the last several years, Paramount has worked within the confines of the CPC governance structure to reform these programs and align them with what's best for growers and consumers," said Tuffli. "Unfortunately, our efforts have been unsuccessful and we believe this lawsuit represents our only available avenue to stop programs we feel are ineffective."

Tuffli also said that the CPC's government relations representation has lacked leadership: "Issues like the threat from Iran, trade tariffs and aflatoxin are critically important to the future of the industry. We believe that the representation afforded us by the CPC has been ineffective and is not what it needs to be as we evolve as an industry."

Editor's Note:

Paramount Farms is the world's largest vertically integrated supplier of pistachios and almonds. The company offers a full range of in-shell and shelled pistachio, and brownskin and manufactured almonds in branded packages and bulk to customers all over the world. The company has a long, established history of building successful produce brands including Sunkist(R) California Pistachios, a top seller; and Sunkist(R) Almond Accents(R), the leading flavored, sliced almond topping. Sister brands include POM Wonderful(R), the largest grower of California Wonderful pomegranates and producer of POM Wonderful(R) Pomegranate Juice. Growing operations are headquartered in Shafter, California and processing operations are in Lost Hills, California.

Source: Paramount Farms, Inc.

CONTACT: Chris Tuffli, +1-661-797-6791, for Paramount Farms, Inc.