For some of us, picking out our pet’s food boils down to three things: price, convenience, and whichever bag has the cutest pet on its front. But a new class-action lawsuit may have owners taking a closer look at the labels. Plaintiff Frank Lucido of Discovery Bay, California alleges that popular dry dog food Beneful produced by Nestle Purina Pet Care is actually poisoning dogs.
According to the blog Top Class Actions, Lucido began feeding Beneful dry food to his German Shepard, English Bulldog, and Labrador for the first time in late December 2014 to early January 2015. Shortly after making the switch, his German Shepard started losing large amounts of hair and giving off a strange odor, ultimately becoming violently ill. Days later, his English Bulldog was found dead in the yard, while the Labrador became ill shortly after that. The common denominator according to the pets’ vets? Internal bleeding “consistent with poisoning.” Since their diets were the only changing variable, Lucido did some research and concluded that Beneful was to blame.
Lucido’s dogs weren’t the only ones allegedly affected by the Beneful brand. According to the lawsuit, there have been over 3,000 complaints online by dog owners accusing Purina of making their dogs become ill and/or die after eating Beneful.
What kibble component could possibly be making so many dogs sick?
According to the Daily Beast, the popular human and dog food additive propylene glycol may be the culprit. The Beast goes on to say:
It’s [propylene glycol] also the same substance that caused the spiced whiskey Fireball to be recalled in Europe, which found excessive amounts of the chemical, also used in antifreeze, in the cinnamon swill last fall. The tainted liquor was from the North American batch because, in the U.S., much higher volumes of antifreeze additives are OK for human—or canine—consumption.
Another potential culprit may be mycotoxins. According to the lawsuit this toxic byproduct of mold is commonly found in all types of grains, which, according to a new study out of Pakistan, was found in half of the 237 breakfast cereal samples researchers tested.
The lawsuit is charging Nestle Purina 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.”
This isn’t the first time Purina has faced allegations of potential poisons in its products, according to a statement released from Purina. The company defends itself, saying:
We believe this lawsuit is baseless, and we intend to vigorously defend ourselves and our brand. Beneful had two previous class action suits filed in recent years with similar baseless allegations, and both were dismissed by the courts. Like other pet foods, Beneful is occasionally the subject of social media-driven misinformation. Online postings often contain false, unsupported and misleading allegations that cause undue concern and confusion for our Beneful customers. Bottom line: consumers can continue to feed Beneful with total confidence.
I don’t know how much confidence consumers will have though after being scared by words like internal bleeding, kidney failure, and seizures. Some public relations pros say any publicity is good publicity, but in this case there’s no way Purina for the time being can spin “dog-slaughter” rumors.