13 Of The Worst Trade Joe's Scandals You Shouldn't Ignore

Bright, colorful lighting. Flower bouquets greeting you the moment you walk in the door. Quirky fonts on the price tags. Freezer aisles full of unique and delicious prepared meals. Inexpensive wine — listen, there's a lot to love about Trader Joe's, is what we're saying, and that's before we even mention the low prices. It's a store where you can get the sorts of foods that make you feel fancy and worldly without the "heir to European nobility" money it usually costs.

So yes, Trader Joe's has a variety of delicious snacks and low prices, but there's a darkness hidden beneath the Hawaiian shirts. Those happily chirping checkout cashiers might congratulate you on your good taste in cashew butter, but management may have more serious things on their minds. It's true that most grocery store chains have scandals and various things they'd rather you not think about, but T.J.'s has more than its share of skeletons hiding in the closet.

1. Trader Joe's illegally tried to stop unionizing employees

Speaking of those supernaturally friendly cashiers and shelf-stockers, who you would trust completely to find a needle in a haystack — many have decided that they deserve union protections. The first T.J.'s to unionize was a store in Hadley, MA, in 2022. This was part of a nationwide trend, as the National Labor Relations Board reported a 58% increase in union representation petitions filed in the first nine months of 2022. Crew members at the Hadley voted 45-31 to approve the union. Surely there's no second paragraph to this entry and everyone in Hadley, MA remains blissfully happy to this day, right?

Well, Trader Joe's responded by engaging in a bunch of illegal union-busting efforts. We don't even have to say "allegedly," because that's what the NLRB found. Trader Joe's illegally told organizing workers to take off union pins — or to quote the court's finding, per Boston.com, wearing union insignia provoked "coercive threats by supervisors." It also gave those employees different retirement benefits than non-union employees. Illegal practices weren't just limited to Massachusetts, either. More than 20 other stores brought allegations of illegal union-busting efforts by Trader Joe's.

2. Trader Joe's claimed the National Labor Relations Board was unconstitutional

For a company with a relatively progressive, left-leaning image, being exposed as reluctant to accept employee unionizing at best and anti-union at worst was not a good look. If customers are suddenly aware that employees are not only struggling, but that their struggle is ignored? That in-store bell starts to sound less like a cheerful ring and more like an ominous toll. But T.J.'s didn't stop there.

In a bold response to allegations of unfairness, Trader Joe's decided to take their ball and go home. If allegedly threatening unionizing employees wasn't enough, the company joined with SpaceX, Amazon, and Starbucks in an effort to have the National Labor Relations Board declared unconstitutional. This is beyond refusing to negotiate. This is advocating that workers anywhere, not just Trader Joe's, should not have a right to a voice at all. 

The suit has been described as "lose-lose" and "a potential for chaos" even by management-side lawyers. Harvard labor law professor Benjamin Sachs even claims that the legal theories invoked by these corporations threaten "our ability to have clean air, regulate food safety and assure safe and healthy workplaces" (via The Guardian). Sure, a corporation — even one as outwardly progressive as Trader Joe's — wants to maximize profits. But a grocery store chain signing on the relaxing of food safety standards should be a major blow to consumer confidence.

3. Trader Joe's leaky refrigerators violated the Clean Air Act

All grocery stores need refrigerators and freezers. There is a lot of merchandise within that brick-and-mortar building that needs to be kept below specific temperatures. Obviously, these are more powerful refrigerators and freezers than you'd find in a home. That's to be expected. A little more unexpected is Trader Joe's using refrigerants that are 4,700 times worse for Earth's atmosphere than carbon dioxide, according to an EPA official in a 2016 court case (via The Guardian). Trader Joe's was found to be in violation of the Clean Air Act, in a case intended to keep roughly 31,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases from being released just by virtue of Trader Joe's stores existing.

Hydrochlorofluorocarbons are a coolant in refrigerators and a ridiculously potent type of greenhouse gas, and Trader Joe's refrigerators were leaky enough that the U.S. Justice Department had to get involved. As part of the settlement, Trader Joe's had to pay a $500,000 fine and commit to changing the coolants in their refrigerators over the course of the next three years. The cost of these changes? A cool $2 million.

4. Trader Joe's shrugged at accusations that its product labeling plays into racist stereotypes

Something exciting about Trader Joe's is its flair for the international. That said, many believe Trader Joe's could show more respect to the cultures whose foods they are hawking. The store is known for changing product labels to reflect the food's culture of origin. Mexican products become Trader José's. Italian products become Trader Giotto's. Chinese products become Trader Ming's (even though Trader Zhou is phonetically right there). Whether this is lighthearted fun meant to honor other cultures or a flattening and degrading shorthand for offensive stereotypes is a topic worth discussing. In 2020, a high schooler launched a petition to get Trader Joe's to change the labels, or at least reconsider them. The company's response was simply, "we disagree that any of these labels are racist" (via NBC News).

A stock of international products is in line with Trader Joe's origin story, which owes a lot to the invention of the Boeing 747, the 1960s tiki craze in the U.S., and a generally more internationally-minded customer base that emerged in the postwar era. Thanks to Trader Joe's private labels, people who might never have tried cooking with harissa paste see it sitting next to the tomato paste and think, "What if?" Since Trader Joe's can be an entry point for people trying new foods, maybe product labels aren't the place for jokes that play into stereotypes.

5. Trader Joe's deceived small business owners

Chitra Agrawal, owner of condiment company Brooklyn Delhi, wasn't surprised that Trader Joe's approached her about a partnership. The brand is already one sale at Whole Foods and Blue Apron. After initially working together and doing a group tasting of her products, Trader Joe's ghosted her. Communication stopped. Months later, Trader Joe's launched Indian Style Garlic Achaar, which bore a tremendous amount of similarity to Agrawal's Roasted Garlic Achaar — right down to the uncommon use of the word "achaar." Many South Asian companies use "pickle" or "relish" to describe this product; using "achaar" with a double a was Agrawal's innovation, as was the use of roasted garlic in it. It was an underhanded move. Even more of a bummer, it seems like Agrawal's case is not the only time T.J.'s has stolen ideas from small companies.

One reason to shop at Trader Joe's is all of the stuff they have that other grocery chains don't stock. And we're not talking only about the frozen and prepared meals or proprietary salad kits. For many grocery shoppers in the U.S. — especially those outside big cities — Trader Joe's is the place to buy things like vindaloo sauce or salsa verde with proper acidity levels. When you buy this stuff, though, you would hope that the store comes by stocking these products honestly. You would hope there is some respect paid to wherever these products originated — be it a different culture, chef's kitchen, or small business.

6. Trader Joe's can be a harbinger of gentrification

Gentrification is a complex issue that sets off a firestorm of opinions whenever it's brought up, but one thing is certain: Gentrification means prices are going up. Sure, Trader Joe's has some pretty good deals, but are you really getting a better deal here than with the discount corner store? As for what exactly Trader Joe's has to do with gentrification, in 2016, Zillow found that homes located near Trader Joe's will appreciate faster. 

Put one way, this means that T.J.'s moving in will let you make more money when it comes time to sell your house. Put another way? The cost of living is about to skyrocket, and what benefit do you get if you don't own a home? There is also the nasty fact that gentrification, more often than not, displaces people of color more than white people. Couple that with T.J.'s habit of selling products inspired by (or allegedly stolen from) non-white people, and the gentrification side dish starts to spoil any main course you've prepared from Trader Joe's products. It's no wonder that the chain has sometimes faced grassroots opposition when attempting to open new locations.

7. Trader Joe's recalls demonstrate increasing food safety risks

One of the main reasons to go to Trader Joe's is its wide array of food from around the globe. You can get Chinese soup dumplings, Mexican tamales, and Indian saag paneer — all from the frozen aisle. Unfortunately, the globalization of food comes with a previously unknown set of drawbacks. After a March 2024 recall of soup dumplings because of a possible contaminant with permanent marker fragments, public health groups have warned that frequent recalls might be a new normal. The March 2024 recall came on the heels of a February 2024 recall of frozen pilaf and more recalls in the summer of 2023. Mistakes and errors happen, sure, but that's a lot of recalls for one company in a short period of time. 

The combination of globalized food products, small-batch producers, and private companies responsible for food safety means Trader Joe's is uniquely at risk for recall events. Hopefully, as new challenges emerge, new solutions can be found. The store is a monument to cosmopolitanism — a testament to the culinary joys that are possible thanks to globalization. "When everyone gets along and the shipping channels are open," the products scream from the shelves, "we can all enjoy the tastiest foods from the farthest reaches together." It's a tasty vision, even if food talks in this metaphor.

8. Trader Joe's prepared foods had a massive recall due to listeria

There have been many reasons behind the recalls issued by Trader Joe's in the past, and listeria is one of the worst. With listeria, gastrointestinal problems are the minimum. The bacteria can also cause fever, muscle aches, and convulsions, not to mention miscarriages or stillbirths if contracted during pregnancy. It's exactly what you don't want in food you brought home from the grocery store, particularly prepared food.

In late 2024, Trader Joe's issued a recall on products that might have been contaminated with listeria. Over ten million pounds of meat were thought to be affected. These were mostly chicken products, including chicken salad and frozen chicken enchiladas. The pre-packaged foods were manufactured for an astonishing four-month timespan before the recall was issued. This late 2024 recall came after a previous recall earlier the same year over listeria fears. The recalls began with separate suppliers, but two listeria-related incidents in one year is a bad look.

9. Trader Joe's chocolate is potentially responsible for a lot of deforestation

It's easy to take for granted how labor-intensive chocolate is. This confection is everywhere, from flavoring our coffee to topping our ice cream cones to being thrown from porches to children every autumn. When the winter holidays roll around, our hearts go all tingle-tangle for Trader Joe's Jingle Jangle. Chocolate's ubiquity makes us forget chocolate comes from a bean that grows on trees and is not easy to farm. The chocolate industry is riddled with child labor and deforestation scandals, and Trader Joe's is not unaffected by them.

Determining which retailers had the most ethically sourced chocolate, environmental group Green America scored Trader Joe's near the bottom. Strikes against the company's favor were a lack of commitment to oppose deforestation and lack of fair trade options. While Green America did not accuse Trader Joe's of using child labor, they did launch a campaign that openly asked if the company used child labor. A question is not proof of bad action, but a tight-lipped response to that question does not inspire confidence.

10. Trader Joe's sold products containing lead

Lead is one of those food contaminants you'd think we'd have under control by now. Ingesting this particular portion of the periodic table is widely known to be extremely bad for your health. It would be shocking to learn that a retailer sold food contaminated with lead, and even more so if it was done so both knowingly and intentionally.

A 2013 lawsuit in California (filed by the office of then State Attorney Kamala Harris) accused Trader Joe's of selling food contaminated with lead, accusing that the company knew and deliberately exposed consumers to the toxic substance. Lead was found in trace amounts, in candied ginger and candied plums, and T.J.'s couldn't even be bothered to slap the legally required warning labels on the packaging. Even worse, the lead contamination was found to not be naturally occurring, meaning it could  (and should) have been addressed by the company.

11. Trader Joe's got called out for using too much plastic

In 2021, environmental group Brightly ranked Trader Joe's as the least sustainable of the chain grocery stores. The main offender was the amount of plastic the company used in packaging. Things are slightly better now, but until early in the 2020s, nearly everything you bought at Trader Joe's had some sort of plastic around it. Even produce would be wrapped up in cling film! In response, Trader Joe's claims to have removed more than 12 million pounds of plastic packaging from their products. Other improvements included changing some packaging to recycled plastic or even compostable materials.

Between food waste and packaging, grocery store chains have a massive environmental impact; this article definitely doesn't have space to interrogate every sustainable practice stores could implement. Suffice to say, the average customer probably doesn't want an excess of plastic packaging — if for no other reason than a trip to the grocery store shouldn't also fill your trash can up.

12. Trader Joe's first price hike in decades came amidst inflation

You may have noticed grocery prices going up since 2020. Maybe you're a frustrated Costco shopper noticing shrinkflation in the peppermint bark, or a bodybuilder who's had to cut back on eggs. Whatever your story, you eat food, so it's likely you're on the lookout for ways to save cash at the supermarket lately. Good ol' Trader Joe's is an affordable standby, right? They haven't raised prices on individual bananas, ever!

Sadly, the market marches toward higher prices, it seems. Despite being famous for not only selling bananas individually — while boasting a steal of a fixed price at 19 cents per banana — Trader Joe's raised prices on the fruit in 2024. What's bothersome is the timing. This came while consumers were still struggling under inflation that began during COVID-19 lockdowns. Grocery store chains are being credibly accused of price gouging, so much so that the issue came up during the 2024 Presidential campaigns. Pinching a few more pennies out of bananas just adds to the feeling that despite its progressive trappings, the bottom line is king for Trader Joe's.

13. A worker claims to have been fired for calling out lax COVID safety practices

The depths of COVID lockdowns were a trying time. Debates raged about what best practices for essential workers were, and how safe places like grocery stores were. In 2021, CNN reported that Trader Joe's employee Ben Bonnema got so frustrated with the store's lax safety protocols that he sent an email to the CEO. Sure, maybe that skips several links in the chain of command, but who else do you ask for company-wide updates to mask policy, including a three-strike rule for uncooperative customers? Who else has the power to demand that every single store improve its air filtration systems? After firing off his email, Bonnema was promptly fired from work. Of course, Trader Joe's denied that the email was the reason for Bonnema's firing. In turn, Bonnema posted his letter on Twitter, along with an explanation of the situation. For whatever it's worth to either party, Trader Joe's did rehire Bonnema a week later.

The height of the COVID-19 pandemic was an extremely challenging time. The masks, the uncertainty, the daily timed cheering for essential workers — the pre-vaccine pandemic is probably not an era you want to revisit often. All of that unknown and danger put people more than a little on edge. This often resulted in grocery store confrontations — usually over mask usage — going viral. Cases like Bonnema's should prompt reflection about employee safety and workplace conditions.