Abbotsford cheese dispute triggers court action

Hundreds of kilograms of allegedly mouldy cheese at an Abbotsford cheese-making facility are at the heart of a lawsuit that has pitted Saputo Dairy Products Canada G.P. against two suppliers.

Saputo filed suit May 22 against Norplex Inc. and Unisource Canada Inc. which, respectively, manufacture and distribute liners and caps used to line the inside of containers during cheesemaking.

Saputo claims that it has suffered losses after the defendants' products allegedly caused a "mould problem" that required the plaintiff to dispose of 89,000 kilograms of cheese and downgrade a further 188,000 kilograms of cheese to grade B from grade A.

Saputo claims that Unisource approached the company in 2010, claiming it could supply identical liners to what Saputo was then using – but at a lower price. The suit claims that Saputo then agreed to purchase cheesemaking products from Unisource,.

"It was an express or implied term of the contract of sale that the new liners would be identical to the established liners and reasonably fit for the purpose for which they were intended," the statement of claim alleges.

Saputo claims that between September and December 2010, the company used the defendants' products to make several thousand blocks of cheddar cheese, each weighing approximately 640 pounds, at the company's Abbotsford cheese plant.

The court document states that in October, a representative of Norplex identified that the defendants' liners were made of a different material than the liners Saputo had previously been using.

However, the claim alleges, the defendants either failed to investigate the implications of that discrepancy or, if they did so, failed to communicate their findings to Saputo.

Saputo contends that in December 2010, the company discovered black mould on the surface of the cheese that had been aged using the defendants' products, allegedly due to the liners' lack of effective oxygen barrier.

Saputo is seeking damages against Unisource for breach of contractual warranty, breach of statutory warranty, negligent supplying and negligent misrepresentation. It is seeking damages against Norplex for negligent design and manufacture and negligent failure to warn.

As of press deadline, no response to the civil claim had been filed.