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Rachael Ray’s Nutrish dog food line is falsely labeled as “natural,” according to a class action lawsuit filed this week in California federal court.
Plaintiff Christina Grimm filed the Nutrish class action lawsuit Tuesday against Ainsworth Pet Nutrition Holdings LLC and several related companies. She accuses them of marketing Rachael Ray’s line of Nutrish dog food products as “natural” and having “no artificial preservatives” even though they allegedly contain synthetic ingredients and harmful additives.
According to the class action lawsuit, the packaging for Nutrish Super Premium Food for Dogs includes the following statements: “Made with simple, natural ingredients,” “No artificial flavors or artificial preservatives,” and “Natural Food for Dogs with Added Vitamins & Minerals.”
Grimm says she purchased at least four of the Rachael Ray dog food products, including Zero Grain – Grain Free Food for Dogs, Salmon & Sweet Potato Recipe and three flavors of Nutrish Super Premium Food for Dogs. She claims she switched to Nutrish from her previous dog food because the products were advertised as being natural and having no artificial preservatives.
“Nutrish claimed on its webpage that every single one of these was natural and contained no artificial preservatives,” the Nutrish dog food class action lawsuit states. However, these products reportedly include artificial preservatives such as L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate, Menadione Sodium Bisulphate Complex, Thiamine Mononitrate, “natural flavors,” and caramel color.
“By deceptively marketing the Products as ‘natural’ and having ‘no artificial preservatives,’ Defendants wrongly capitalized on, and reaped enormous profits from, consumers’ strong preference for natural food products made free of artificial preservatives,” Grimm says in the Nutrish dog food class action lawsuit.
Grimm asserts she would not have paid as much for the Nutrish dog food, or she would have chosen to purchase different dog food products, if she had known that the Nutrish dog food products contained artificial preservatives and unnatural ingredients.
The products at issue in the Rachael Ray dog food class action lawsuit include a variety of flavors of Nutrish Super Premium Food for Dogs, Dish Super Premium Food for Dogs, Zero Grain – Grain Free Food for Dogs, Just 6 Food for Dogs, Nutrish Wet Food for Dogs, and Nutrish PEAK Ultra Premium Food for Dogs.
By filing the Nutrish dog food class action lawsuit, Grimm seeks to represent herself and a Class of California citizens who purchased any of the allegedly falsely labeled dog food products for household use since Feb. 4, 2010. She asserts claims for negligent misrepresentation, violations of the California Consumer Legal Remedies Act, violations of the California False Advertising Law, violations of the California Unfair Competition Law, breach of express warranty, breach of implied warranty, and quasi-contract.
Grimm is represented by Brian J. Robbins, Kevin A. Seely and Leonid Kandinov of Robbins Arroyo LLP, and Robert K. Shelquist and Rebecca A. Peterson of Lockridge Grindal Nauen PLLP.
The Rachael Ray Nutrish Dog Food Class Action Lawsuit is Christina Grimm v. APN Inc., et al., Case No. 8:17-cv-00356, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
UPDATE: On April 24, 2017, the maker of Rachael Ray’s brand of dog food “Nutrish,” argued that a class action lawsuit alleging the food is falsely labeled as “natural” should be dismissed because the label meets with all regulations.
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238 thoughts onRachael Ray’s Nutrish Dog Food is Falsely Labeled as Natural, Class Action Says
I’ve been feeding my dog Nutrish with no problems. Now I’m panicked. It’s been the only food he will eat after trying many different brands. Now I’m going to have to reconsider my options.
My Westie, Maxwell Henry, was eating Nutrish Chicken and Vegetables (small bites) for a year. On June 7th, he was diagnosed with Transitional Cell Carcinoma (bladder cancer). He suffered terribly and was put down on July 31st. I am absolutely devastated. I hope that his cancer was not due to this food. I will be following this story very closely.
I too am devastated. Had to put my boy down, large tumor on spleen. My Rocky ate what Maxwell ate. How could anybody use weed killer or any type of poison on mans best friend! My thoughts are with you and the many effected by this.
It’s called crate training.
My dog has been on this food for a few years now, we just finished up 8 rounds of chemo on him. The cancer was on his mouth and now hearing this is making me really wonder about his food?
My 11 year old corgi was extremely healthy at his last physical 3/2018. I have been feeding Rachel Ray food for a number of years. June 2018 enlarged stomach, went immediately to vet and diagnosed with terminal tumor on spleen. Rocky had to be put to sleep within minutes. I find this news very disturbing.
Maybe that’s why our dogs have bad stomachs a couple for times a week they sometimes don’t eat and throw up !
My ridgeback lab has been on Nutrish dog food for years usually delivered by Target & chewy a few times picked up by Walmart until they stopped the the type I wanted as well and he too will throw up once twice maybe 3 times a week additionally he was put in the hospital for hemorrhagic gastritis because of this food it is the only food he has ever eat my bill was over $2,000 I really hope they get to the bottom of this
My dog has bin eating her food for easily over a year and over the last year and has bin sick and has spent over 8 grand for test to find out my dog has chrone disease he’s only 3 and the more I think about it it makes me sick to hear this. Is there someone I can speak to about this and what has bin going on with my dog? I hope there’s someone I can reach out ro be ause I’m going to now have his lab test from then and I will have another scope done to test for this chemical inside of his body…
My question is, did Rachel Ray knowingly allow this to continue? I cannot fathom why she would since she claimed she created this brand because of her love for dogs. I just saw this today. I had no idea this has been going on for years now! I’ve been feeding my dogs this for years, thinking it was better. My little Pomchi died in June of Sepsis & now I have to wonder if the food contributed to her death!
Our 5 year old beautiful dog died suddenly March 30, 2016. We were told that he died of kidney failure. The Vet didn’t know why, but said maybe he was poisoned or had a rare form of Lyme. We switched to RR dog food long before he died. One day he was tired, we assumed he was sad about our 16 year old lab’s health failing. Things progressed very quickly, we were paralyzed with fear one morning when Willoughby appeared to be extremely weak. We did all we could. The Vet didn’t understand it. He died less than 10 days from the first sign of illness.
I hate to think this is Rachel’s responsibility. I am a fair person. I will take part in this action for good reasons. But, I would like to hear from RR in some forum where she can acknowledge that she wasn’t aware if this. I truly do not believe Rachel Ray would look to sell a product that would hurt animals.
My fat cat was healthy and happy until I started feeding her RR Nutrish, she died 2 days ago of liver disease, I switched a month and a half ago, inside cat, never outside!
I tried because someone told me that is great food for dog, my dog start throwing up , I still have some left and but now that I read the lawsuit I will stop, he doesn’t eat to much and stay in his cage more often then usually
Your dog is in a cage?