This case stems from a dispute over the production (or lack thereof) of meatless meatballs, which Plaintiff Ascot Valley Foods, Ltd. (“Plaintiff,” “Ascot,” or “Ascot Valley”) agreed to manufacture, package, and ship to Defendant ADF Foods (USA), Ltd. (“Defendant” or “ADF”). Ascot Valley brought claims under New York law for breach of contract, promissory estoppel, and account stated. ADF brought several counterclaims, alleging damages from unfulfilled purchase orders and misappropriation of trade secrets stemming from Ascot Valley’s production of similar meatless meatballs for other customers.
ADF called Mahabir Singh to testify as an expert in food science and technology. Ascot asked the Court to bar the testimony of defense expert Singh.
Food Science Expert Witness
Mahabir Singh has a master’s degree in food technology and is pursuing a Ph.D. in food science and technology.
He has more than two decades of directly relevant experience, having worked for over 25 years in the development and production of food products, while currently running a consultancy for new product development and plant design in India and abroad.
Discussion by the Court
Singh used his experience and training in product development to determine the procedures he used to evaluate and compare the meatless meatballs in this case. Those procedures are widely used by food scientists in the industry in developing new products.
For each product, Singh compared the ingredients used in the recipe and the cooking means and methods employed in the manufacturing of the items.
Based upon these repeated observations and using the same methodology across each of the seven products he analyzed, Singh concluded “that the original recipes were ADF’s recipes, Ascot Valley tweaked a little bit the seasoning part or some of the ingredients and they tried to name it as a new recipe” and that “[Ascot Valley] took the ADF recipes, tweaked them to some extent, and followed the same process, same time to process, and processing conditions to produce nearly identical or similar products.”
The Court found that Singh was qualified to testify as an expert in food science and technology and concluded that his opinion testimony and report were admissible.
The Court, however, declined to credit the testimony of Ascot’s expert, Marc A. Meyers. Meyers used the same methodology that Singh used to compare the recipes for ADF products against the recipes Ascot used to make meatless meatballs for Lidl, Creative Fine Foods and Topco.
Meyers’s testimony made it clear that Ascot selectively provided him information to skew his opinions. Moreover, Meyers also acknowledged that Ascot made mistakes in calculating the percentage differences that it alleges show the products are different.
Held
The Court denied Ascot’s motions to exclude the testimony of Mahabir Singh.
Key Takeaway
Even with respect to the most well-qualified of experts, a district court must also be satisfied that the expert employed a reliable methodology in reaching her conclusions.
Case Details:
| Case Caption: | Ascot Valley Foods, Ltd. V. ADF Foods (USA), Ltd. |
| Docket Number: | 1:22cv2655 |
| Court Name: | United States District Court, New York Southern |
| Order Date: | June 26, 2026 |
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