Campaign Updates: Animals Beheaded for Blueberry Marketing
The U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) has forced animals to endure horrific experiments—including beheading, poisoning, starvation, and suffocation—in attempts to make dubious health marketing claims about blueberries. These cruel tests, which are not required by law and have no relevance to human health, are funded through mandatory fees imposed on farmers. PETA is calling for an immediate end to this wasteful junk science that steals animals’ lives—and you can help.
PETA Calls Out Blueberry Council and Universities for Cruel Tests on Animals
October 29, 2025
PETA sent letters to the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council, Colorado State University, and Texas Woman’s University (TWU) urging them to ban gruesome experiments on animals. In tests funded by the council and conducted at the universities, experimenters force-fed mice human feces and blueberries, and injected rats with chemicals to cause painful arthritis. In response, a TWU spokesperson confirmed, “The university has no plans to pursue any further animal studies related to this project.” The animals were starved and killed—all to market blueberries to consumers. Please join PETA in urging the Blueberry Council to join other produce boards—including those for avocados, mangos, and watermelon—by ending fruitless experiments on animals.
Blueberry Industry Confronted Over Animal Tests at Annual Meeting
March 28, 2025
PETA supporters took action at the Blueberry Hill Climb & Industry Meetings, an event organized by the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council, to confront industry leaders over cruel and unnecessary animal experiments funded by the Council.
Activists handed out leaflets outside the conference, placed materials throughout the event venue, and slid them under hotel room doors—making sure attendees couldn’t ignore the truth that the USHBC has funded irrelevant experiments that force-fed, poisoned, and killed animals just to market blueberries.
Shocking Stickers Expose Cruel Blueberry Tests
March 18, 2025
Shoppers may have experienced a different kind of sticker shock at grocery stores this week as they found packages of blueberries adorned with stickers reading “Mice Beheaded in Blueberry Tests,” with a drawing of a beheaded cartoon mouse.
The stickers appeared at stores in and around Folsom, Calif.—home to the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council headquarters—which has funded gruesome experiments on mice and rats that are not legally required and kill animals simply to help sell more blueberries.
PETA Activists Protest Animal Exploitation at Blueberry Convention
February 23, 2023
During the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council’s Blueberry Convention in San Diego, local activists took to the streets, urging the fruit group to stop supporting deadly tests on animals that aren’t required by law. The activists held signs reading, “USHBC: End Cruel, Useless Animal Tests,” and distributed informative leaflets.
