Virginia woman catches farmers market vendor selling Driscoll’s berries as ‘locally grown’. The same brand you can buy at Walmart for half the price

A Virginia woman said she caught a farmers market vendor transferring Driscoll’s brand blueberries into the market’s own containers, sparking a wave of reaction online. The woman, who posts under the TikTok handle @wife_mama02 and appears to go by Autumn, shared a video filmed from inside her car showing a vendor at what she identified as Virginia Farm Market repackaging berries at a stall.

In the video, a market vendor can be seen handling clear plastic containers and placing them on a table, with cardboard boxes labeled “Driscoll’s” visible on the stall. The clip is framed with on-screen text that reads, “POV: You’re now sitting in your car questioning every Farmer’s Market you’ve ever been too…”

Autumn later posted a follow-up video showing screenshots of a message she said she sent to Virginia Farm Market through its Facebook business chat, asking the vendor to explain what she had seen. In the caption of that video, she said she had also tried emailing the market but that the email address listed online came back as undeliverable, so she reached out through Facebook instead.

Market says it repackages berries due to mold concerns in original containers

According to the screenshots Autumn shared, she told Virginia Farm Market in her message that she and her family were “frequent shoppers” and had “always appreciated supporting a local business that we believed provided fresh, high-quality products.” She said she was “surprised and disappointed” by what she said she witnessed during her visit that morning.

In the message, Autumn said she watched “an employee publicly transferring Driscoll’s brand blueberries from their original retail containers into your store’s blue produce containers.” She said the incident raised concerns for her “particularly given the importance of food safety, product traceability, and the recent recalls and bacterial contamination concerns that have affected produce in the past.”

She asked the market to clarify “why the blueberries were being repackaged and how your market ensures customers are still able to identify the original source, lot information, and any recall notices should they ever become necessary.”

Virginia Farm Market appeared to respond to Autumn’s message, according to screenshots she posted in a third video. The business said, “This is a difficult year for all the markets in the mid Atlantic,” and said freezes and drought “have made sourcing local produce challenging.” 

The business said berries are shipped from farms in “clam shells” for convenience in stacking and shipping, but said that in an “open air environment,” the containers “don’t allow the fruit to breathe and promotes mold,” which it said is why the fruit gets repackaged into the market’s own green quart and pint containers. Pricing issues with berries have been reported elsewhere, too.

The business also said, “We do not put on our signs that they are ‘local’. Rather, we want to offer what our customers want at the highest quality. With no local fruit available, we purchase the best we can find.” It said it has purchased from “the same farms and suppliers for many years” and said it has “built a trust with what we receive.” The business added that if any recalls affect what it receives, the products “are removed immediately and we know where it was sourced.”

The reply ended by saying, “We hope this helps you understand how these processes work,” and added, “Hopefully next season will be more normal without the weather issues…” Autumn captioned the video announcing the response, “& We have a response… What y’all think?! 🤔”

The videos drew a large number of comments, with many users questioning the practice of repackaging store-bought berries and selling them without labeling the original brand. One commenter wrote, “I still think it’s a scam, if I wanted to go and buy blueberries from the grocery store I would. But we’re shopping at the farmers market to get fresh and local.” 

Another commenter said, “so they upcharge still. and don’t let the customer know ‘these are Walmart Driscoll blueberries, we bought them for $4 a pack and are selling them for $8 a pack.'” Concerns about product safety have led other shoppers to discover issues with food they’d been consuming for weeks.

Another commenter said, “My suspicions were first raised when my wife went to the farmers market and brought home some locally grown pineapples.” One reply to a comment calling it “a fraud” stated, “they literally aren’t. Using old packaging for storage is not illegal, nor has ever been illegal.” Another commenter claimed to personally know “a blueberry farmer who needs help with harvesting, located in Central/East Virginia” and said of the market, “they lying.”

Some commenters said the issue extends beyond one market. One wrote, “This is actually super common unfortunately. Fruit, veggies, baked goods, etc…” Another commented, “Happens all the time. Most of their produce isn’t locally grown.”