Champion Pet Food Faces Deceptive Advertising Lawsuits – Truth about Pet Food

The manufacturer of Orijen and Acana Pet Foods is facing two concerning lawsuits for “deceptive marketing“. ‘Deceptive’ is being way too kind based on the claims of these lawsuits.

Richman Law Group has filed two lawsuits against Champion Pet Food for two different consumer groups. One lawsuit is on behalf of the Organic Consumers Association and the other is on behalf of Animal Equality.

Both lawsuits include some very damning information against the pet food manufacturer.

Quotes:

“Champion’s labeling and advertising consistently describe the chickens used in its Products as “free-run.”

The lawsuit captures screen shots of the “free-run” claims made by Champion including this:

But the lawsuit discloses (bold added):

“This farmer, whom Champion purportedly “knows and trusts” as Todd of Clark Farms, is actually Greg Hefton, a contract grower for Tyson Foods – the largest poultry producer in the United States.”

“Contrary to Champion’s representations that the poultry is “free-run” and “raised under the highest standards for animal care,” the poultry that goes into Champion’s products is from birds raised entirely indoors in the typical crowded inhumane conditions of factory poultry farms.”

The second lawsuit includes concerning information regarding Champion’s claims its pet food includes wild caught rainbow trout.

“Champion makes representations that falsely state or lead consumers to believe that it uses wild-caught rainbow trout in its pet foods.”

The suit provides multiple claims of Champion regarding wild-caught fish including this website screen shot:

But, the lawsuit discloses this (bold added):

“The representations and insinuations in Champion’s labeling and marketing that it uses wild-caught fish are false and/or tend to mislead D.C. consumers as to a material fact. Champion uses rainbow trout from Idaho. The vast majority of rainbow trout sourced from Idaho come from large industrial fish farms.”

“The artificial preservative ethoxyquin is a chemical that is widely used as a feed additive in fish farming operations. The presence of trace residues of ethoxyquin in fish products indicates that the fish in the products were farmed, not wild-caught. Resides of ethoxyquin are not found in wild-caught fish products but are routinely found in farmed fish products.”

“Animal Equality commissioned laboratory tests of three Champion products. Two of the products, which did not contain rainbow trout, did not test positive for ethoxyquin. One of the Products, which does contain rainbow trout, tested positive for ethoxyquin. Accordingly, Animal Equality has secured reasonable confirmation that the rainbow trout used in the Products are industrially farmed, contrary to Champion’s “wild-caught” representations.”

Has Champion Pet Food been caught red handed misleading consumers or will the manufacturer have a believable explanation for these seemingly VERY deceptive marketing claims?

These lawsuits will be very interesting to follow up on in the future. When updates are learned, they will be shared.

To read the lawsuits, click Here and Here.

Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,

Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
TruthaboutPetFood.com
Association for Truth in Pet Food

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