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Nestle Purina Pet Care Co. is asking a California federal court to dismiss a class action lawsuit alleging its Beneful dog food products are toxic and can lead to a dog’s death, calling it a “lawsuit-by-social-media.”
Purina says U.S. District Judge Edward M. Chen should toss the Beneful class action lawsuit filed by plaintiff Frank Lucido in February, in which he alleges the Beneful dog food includes toxic substances that are capable of killing dogs. Lucido tells the story of his three dogs, who he claims became ill from eating Beneful, including one who died, allegedly as a result.
Lucido alleges in his Beneful class action lawsuit that Beneful contains propylene glycol, which he says is “an automotive component that is a known animal toxin and is poisonous to cats and dogs.”
However, Purina says that “propylene glycol — is a commonly used food additive that is Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) in human food and dog food (and has been for decades) by both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the country’s foremost pet food standards organization, the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO).”
In addition, Purina argues that “propylene glycol is specifically permitted in dog food (as well as many other human foods) under federal law and is affirmatively not the toxic ‘anti-freeze’ ingredient alleged by plaintiff.”
According to the Law360, there is debate among consumer advocacy groups and the food industry over GRAS amounts of toxins like propylene glycol, adding that the FDA does not check the accuracy of what companies claim is a safe amount of a particular additive.
In his class action lawsuit, Lucido also alleges that the dog food includes mycotoxins, which are “a group of toxins produced by fungus that occurs in grains, which are a principle ingredient in Beneful.” He cites the Association for Truth In Pet Food, which reportedly tested “Beneful Original and found that it contained dangerous levels of mycotoxins.”
In response to that claim, Purina says that “mycotoxins are a group of naturally occurring, unavoidable molds found in all grain products.
“Significantly, because FDA recognizes that mycotoxins are present in all food, it regulates the levels of mycotoxins and provides that mycotoxins are permitted in dog food at safe levels,” Purina claims in its motion to dismiss the Beneful toxic dog food class action lawsuit.
“Plaintiff neither recognizes nor grapples with that fact, presumably believing that the presence of any mycotoxins is toxic and actionable,” Purina says. “This is just not true.”
The dog food company says that Lucido’s allegations are “vague and conclusory,” basing his assumptions on “unspecified amounts” of alleged toxins.
When it comes to the presence of propylene glycol and mycotoxins in Beneful dog food, Purina says that they are both “regulated and expressly permitted in dog food,” and “any claim by plaintiff challenging their presence in dog food is barred by California’s safe harbor doctrine.”
Lucido charged Purina with with breach of implied warranty, breach of express warranty, negligence, negligent misrepresentation, strict products liability, violating California’s consumer legal remedies act, violating California’s Unfair Competition Law, and violating California’s False Advertising Law.
He is looking to represent a nationwide class and a California class of dog owners “who purchased Beneful dog food in the past four years and who incurred any out of pocket costs due to illness, injury or death of their dog resulting from the ingestion of Beneful.”
Purina argues that Lucido “does not plausibly allege that consumption of Purina’s Beneful dog food caused any of the injuries alleged in the complaint and, therefore, the complaint fails to state a claim for breach of express and implied warranty, negligence, product liability, negligent misrepresentation,” as well as California’s Unfair Competition Law, False Advertising Law, and Consumer Legal Remedies Act.
Lucido cites other examples from other dog owners who allegedly had a similar experience as he did after feeding Beneful to their dogs.
Purina says that these claims are “unsubstantiated and anecdotal.”
According to the dog food company, “this is a lawsuit attacking a perfectly safe and lawful product based on nothing more than trendy social media hysteria.”
Purina says that it was contacted by “the website leading the charge — www.ConsumerAffairs.com, a self-described ‘non] governmental agency’ that ‘charges a fee to companies to become accredited’ — is a for-profit, pay-for-good-ratings website that admits to providing a means for online posters to be contacted by lawyers,” saying that it “has already reached out to Purina to offer its assistance to ‘manage’ these unfounded accusations.”
Lucido is represented by Jeffrey Cereghino of Ram Olson Cereghino & Kopczynski LLP.
Purina is represented by Dale J. Giali, Keri E. Borders, Andrea M. Weiss, Carmine R. Zarlenga of Mayer Brown LLP.
The Beneful Toxic Dog Food Class Action Lawsuit is Frank Lucido v. Nestle Purina Petcare Co., Case No. 3:15-cv-00569, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
UPDATE: On Nov. 17, 2016, U.S. District Judge Edward Chen granted summary judgment to Purina, rejecting testimony from the plaintiffs’ expert that suggested Beneful dog food was the direct cause of their dogs’ illnesses or deaths.
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14 thoughts onPurina Says Beneful Toxic Dog Food Class Action Is ‘Lawsuit-by-Social-Media’
All 3 of my dogs got sick after eating this brand of food. I noticed they wouldn’t eat it and if they did decide to take a bite would spit it out gagging. Started running fever throwing up and had very bad diarrhea which appeared to have blood in it as well as urinated all over the place. Couldn’t get out or to door fast enough so let them stay in bathroom until could get to vet or get medicine to help ease symptoms. I swear it looked like a murder scene from a horror movie from the vomit feces and urine. Vet ran blood test etc full exam. The dog that had worst case tested positive for heart worms during all the testing. Gave them a couple shots and some pills to take home and take for 2 weeks then return unless got worse then come back. Upon 2 week recheck the dog that tested positive for heart worms was retested and guess what was negative. Come to find out whatever bacteria that was in the dog food caused a false positive test. Needless to say she got better to only get worse. Done good seemed to be no more issues for about 3 months then would drink gallons and gallons of water at a time then pee for 5 minutes whole body was swollen-bloated got to where couldn’t get up to walk started running fever again then before could get to vet come morning she had died. The other two dogs are still alive but one stays short of breath all the time and the other stays confused half the time.
This is terrifying. My small Chihuahua, Buddy died in my arms on April 15 this year. This was the food I was feeding him. This just deviates me to think it could have been from the Beneful. I have a larger Chihuahua/mix presently. I feed her Fresh pet. Gosh I pray this food is good for her.
I think of my sweet Buddy every single day. I miss him terribly
UPDATE: On Nov. 17, 2016, U.S. District Judge Edward Chen granted summary judgment to Purina, rejecting testimony from the plaintiffs’ expert that suggested Beneful dog food was the direct cause of their dogs’ illnesses or deaths.
Our Jack Russell after a week , ten days of eating dry beneful, and our larger mixed breed dog began getting sick, the larger dog began lethargy, a difference noticeable, The JR started drinking A LOT of water, lost her muscle mass energy and weight, after about two weeks we decided on a vet visit, nothing changed even tho we added some canned food. I then discovered about beneful and issues with dogs online, we stopped feeding them it, was about midnight, I looked for her the JR, found her dead, in vomit, urine, feces, she must of died horribly. The larger dog recovered her health to some degree, she has mouth tumors and body growths and a heart murmer. It’s your call what to believe, I say the food!!
She also urinated everywhere, vomited, lethargy, she was a bouncy vibrant Jack Russell, from what I read, it’s mostly smaller dogs dying. Way to many to be coincidence.
Mine dog died last June eating this food she started lossing bunch of weight within week .then few days later started bleeding everywhere then stop breathing & died .all within week & few days of eating this food. I no it had be food because only thing she ate that week.normally we feed her what we ate. But I went out town for week brought this food for person feeding her she was sick when I got home .died few days later. We had her since she was 4 weeks old she was 13years old when this food made her sick she died. Before she ate this food she was fine running around fine with the kids .
My healthy dog died within 24 hours of eating out of a new bag.
I still have the bag, my dog was sick for more than 2 weeks vomiting .
FDA is corrupt to the point it leaves corporations to decide about safe products Corporate America is only interest is profits Buyer be damned Look at side effects from all drugs and inter reactions of mixing drugs I Suffered 3-heart attacks heart bypass surgery for blocked heart arteries after 30 months use of oxycodone/morphine for pain due to women in a cell phone rear ended my car I died a twice during operation and they had to open me again after 12 hour operation to stop bleeding .Then doctor that gave oxycodone said he didn’t know of side effects Oxycodonenever had proper clinical trials kills 15 Thousand people a year and gives $1.3bb /year profits So everything is Greed in Corporations they hire attorneys for defense rather than do what is right This Is The New World Order on the road to HELL Congress is brain dead and not working for America Read everything then do your best to protect loved ones and pets Don Richardson
We started off giving our dog Beneful when he was a puppy..Started noticing his difficulty of urinating soon after..And now 4 years later the vet is telling us that he has very bad kidney stones. We cant afford the surgery the vet suggested so he has to eat Special Dog Food from now on (which he doesn’t like)
I swear, my dog was constantly throwing up when he was eating this food. I had to throw the remainder of the bag away. At first I thought he was eating something outside, but I noticed right after eating he would throw up this white foamy looking nasty stuff.