Cargo of bananas caught in New Jersey legal limbo

[December 30, 2013]  NEW YORK (Reuters) — A cargo ship with 110,000 cartons of overripe bananas will remain docked at a U.S. port while their owner and the shipping company battle in court over who let them go brown.

Del Monte Fresh Produce earlier this week sued Netherlands-based shipping company Seatrade Group for $1.5 million, claiming that in their four-day trip on the Green Brazil from Guatemala to Gloucester City, New Jersey, the tropical fruit became "no longer fit for human consumption."

Del Monte argued in papers filed in U.S. District Court in New Jersey that the bananas were not kept at the proper temperature.

Judge Robert Kugler ordered the Green Brazil held in port until the two parties work out the slippery dispute.

The attorney for the Green Brazil could not be reached for comment.

(Reporting by Victoria Cavaliere; editing by Scott Malone)

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