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Fluval Hagen Vegetarian Fish Food isn’t vegetarian at all, containing herring meal, krill, shrimp meal, and fish oil, a new class action lawsuit claims.
The class action lawsuit was filed in Massachusetts on May 6 by lead Plaintiff Elizabeth Kramer, who alleges Rolf C. Hagen Corp. falsely advertises its pet food as vegetarian and misleads and harms consumers in the process.
Kramer bought Hagen’s Fluval Vegetarian Flakes off Amazon three times between Nov. 2019 and Aug. 2020 due to Hagen’s “unambiguous ‘VEGETARIAN’ representation” on its labelling and product description, according to the class action lawsuit.
She did not see the full ingredients list until the product arrived, when she read that the fish flakes included herring meal, krill, shrimp meal, and fish oil.
According to the claim, Hagen labels and advertises the fish food as vegetarian in order to sell more and at higher prices to consumers who seek out vegetarian food products for their pets.
“These target purchasers include the significant population of consumers who— because of concerns for pet health, animal welfare generally, and sustainability—are becoming more interested in and aware of how their pets’ food is produced,” the claim states.
Increasingly, pet owners are becoming concerned about the environmental sustainability of the commercial fish meal, krill, and shrimp industries, and the presence of environmental contaminants such as PCBs, dioxins, pesticides, and methyl mercury in wild-caught aquatic animals, the class action lawsuit claims.
Therefore, Hagen is falsely representing itself to appeal to those consumers, it adds.
“’Vegetarian food does not contain any meat or fish.’ This is not a controversial statement,” the class action lawsuit says. “Defendant Hagen’s uniform marketing representations are false and deceptive because the Products contain various animals as ingredients.”
The class action lawsuit states that there are numerous reviews on Amazon saying that the food is not vegetarian, and those complaints have been ignored by the company, which continues to “deceptively advertise.”
Kramer wants to represent a nationwide Class of consumers who purchased the Fluval Vegetarian Flakes, along with a subclass who purchased the fish food in California and a subclass who purchased it in additional states. She is suing for violations of state business and competition laws, breach of warranty, and unjust enrichment, and seeks an injunction, damages, interest, costs, attorneys’ fees, certification of the Class, and a jury trial.
Hagen isn’t the first pet food manufacturer to face legal action over its products. In March, two dog owners who bought AvoDerm pet food for their four-legged friends believing it was made with California avocados filed a class action lawsuit against the pet food’s producer, claiming they were misled.
Do you scrutinize the ingredients list on your pet’s food? Let us know in the comments section!
Kramer is represented by Rebecca G. Pontikes and Bryn A. Sfetsios of Pontikes Law, LLC, and Kim E. Richman and Jay Shooster and Richman Law & Policy.
The Hagen Fake Vegetarian Pet Food Class Action Lawsuit is Kramer v. Rolf C. Hagen (USA) Corp., Case No. 1:21-cv-10748, U.S. District Court District of Massachusetts.
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