NonProfits sue Purina for Deceptive Marketing – Truth about Pet Food

June 17, 2020 Kar-Bay-Inc 0 Comments

A new lawsuit has been filed against Nestle Purina challenging the company’s ‘Natural’ and ‘No Preservatives’ claims.

The FDA or any State Department of Agriculture rarely (if ever) bothers to validate pet food marketing claims. But thankfully, lawsuits have become a means for consumers to see some type of regulation over pet food. In this lawsuit, two Non-Profit organizations are challenging Nestle Purina’s labeling claims of “Natural” and “No Preservatives“.

From the press release:

Nonprofits Toxin Free USA and Clean Label Project filed a lawsuit against Nestlé USA and Nestlé Purina PetCare Company for deceptive marketing and sale of cat foods labeled as “natural” and with “no artificial preservatives.” Lab tests reveal that certain Purina cat food products contain the synthetic herbicide glyphosate and the artificial preservative ethoxyquin. The consumer protection lawsuit charges that Purina exploits consumers’ preference for pet foods marketed as “natural.”

The lawsuit challenges Purina’s Beyond Natural Cat Food. Quotes from the lawsuit:

Purina knows that consumers seek out and wish to purchase natural foods for their pets that do not contain artificial or synthetic chemicals. To capture this growing market, Purina advertises and promotes the Products as “Natural” and as containing “no artificial…preservatives”.

The lawsuit points out these claims on the Purina Beyond Cat Food label:

These claims are false, deceptive and misleading. The Products at issue are not “natural” or free of artificial preservatives. The Products contain residues of the unnatural biocide glyphosate and the artificial preservative ethoxyquin.

Purina itself tells consumers that “natural” means “[e]xisting in or caused by nature” and “not made or caused by humankind.”

The Purina webpage the lawsuit quotes, goes on to tell pet owners…

Per AAFCO’s guidelines, natural dog food products can include synthetic sources of essential amino acids, vitamins or minerals. The natural claim must include a disclaimer statement, though. You may see “Plus vitamins and minerals” on the package. This statement discloses the addition of synthetic nutrients.

And the lawsuit correctly points out that glyphosate or ethoxyquin is not an ‘essential amino acid, vitamin or mineral’ as would be required for the “Natural” label claim; both being found in this Purina product.

Again from the lawsuit:

Testing by Plaintiffs revealed the presence of glyphosate and ethoxyquin residues in the Products as shown in the table below.

Purina knew what representations it made on the labels of the Products. Purina also knew how the pet food was sourced and processed, and therefore knew or should have known that the Products contain residues of glyphosate, an unnatural biocide, and ethoxyquin, an artificial preservative.

Purina thus knew, or should have known, the facts demonstrating that the Products were mislabeled and falsely advertised.

To read the full lawsuit, Click Here.

Opinion: My thanks to these two organizations for filing this lawsuit. Pet owners have little to no assistance from regulatory authorities for misleading and false label claims. Your help to provide pet owners properly regulated pet food is appreciated.

Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,

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

Become a member of our pet food consumer Association. Association for Truth in Pet Food is a a stakeholder organization representing the voice of pet food consumers at AAFCO and with FDA. Your membership helps representatives attend meetings and voice consumer concerns with regulatory authorities. Click Here to learn more.

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