[Cagdu] Lawsuit: Purina Beniful

[Lisa Irving]

cle

Lawsuit claims Purina Beneful dry 'kibble' dog food is killing dogs

Pat LaFleur,

John Matarese

9:41 AM, Feb 24, 2015

51 mins ago

   

     

  

Creative Commons Flickr user Sh4rp_i

Show Caption

 

CINCINNATI - A recent lawsuit claims Purina’s popular Beneful brand is
hurting and killing pets.

 

More than 3,000 online complaints have been filed by dog-owners claiming
Purina Petcare Beneful’s dry “kibble” variety is killing and hurting dogs,
according

to the class action lawsuit filed Feb. 5 in federal court.

 

The brand is still on store shelves in the Tri-State area (Ohio, Kentucky,
Indiana) and has not been recalled.

 

This class action suit concerns "kibble" dry food, which includes "Purina
Beneful Health Weight"; "Purina Beneful Original"; "Purina Beneful
Incredibites,"

and "Purina Beneful Healthy Growth for Puppies", "Purina Beneful Healthy
Smile", "Purina Beneful Health Fiesta", "Purina Beneful Healthy Radiance",
and

"Purina Beneful Playful Life" varieties. The packaging used for these foods
make the following claims, the suit claims:

 

• "Satisfaction Guaranteed. If you're not happy, we're not happy. Complete
satisfaction or your money back..."

• "At Purina, we're unconditionally devoted to pets. We've dedicated over 80
years to developing the high-quality products that satisfy the needs of dogs

and cats."

• "100% Complete and Balanced Nutrition"

• Yes, dogs can have it all -- and should! How? A special blend of wholesome
ingredients, including grains, real beef, and accents of vitamin-rich
veggies!

It gives dogs the complete nutrition they need and a taste they love."
(Beneful Original)

• "Made with wholesome rice, real chicken, soy, and accented with veggies
and apples, it has the complete nutrition adult dogs need..." (Beneful
Healthy

Weight)

• "With real chicken, wholesome rice, and accents of vitamin-rich veggies,
it has the complete nutrition puppies need..." (Beneful Healthy Growth for
Puppies)

• "When your puppy is grown, Beneful has so many delicious ways to help keep
him healthy and happy." (Beneful Healthy Growth for Puppies)

 

The lawsuit lists stomach and related internal bleeding, liver malfunction
or failure, vomiting, diarrhea, dehydration, weight loss, seizures, bloat
and

kidney failure as symptoms consistently reported by dog-owners feeding their
dogs Beneful, which is owned by Nestlé Purina Petcare Company.

 

10News Scripps sister station WCPO contacted Nestlé Purina Petcare Company
for response to this suit. A spokesperson could not comment immediately as
of

Tuesday afternoon. 

 

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Frank Lucido, who claimed in the suit
that after purchasing a bag of Beneful for the first time in late December,
all

three of his dogs began falling ill with stomach and liver symptoms. He said
he fed them only Beneful for less than a month.

 

Dozer, Lucido’s English bulldog, ultimately died after beginning to show
signs of internal bleeding in his stomach and lesions on his liver, the
lawsuit

states.

 

Lucido’s German Shepherd Nella has shown similar symptoms and his third dog,
a Labrador named Remo, has also been unwell and is currently undergoing
testing,

according to the suit.

 

Lucido claims these illnesses, and similar illnesses of other dogs that have
become sick and/or died after eating Beneful, were caused by toxic
substances

found in the food.

 

Attorney James Young, of Morgan & Morgan out of Tampa, Florida, is one of
the lawyers filing the suit, and he spoke with WCPO via Skype Tuesday
afternoon.

 

Young said, "We received hundreds of complaints. Nationally, there have been
thousands of complaints about dogs who have eaten this dog food by Purina

Beneful and suffered very serious side effects, including death."

 

"The issues are pretty similar across the board," he said, "liver and kidney
problems, which results in diarrhea, bloody stool, vomiting, and secondary

harm."

 

Specifically, the suit lists the automotive antifreeze component propylene
glycol as a primary ingredient in Beneful’s dog food.

 

Propylene glycol, a substance the suit says is toxic to cats and dogs, may
be included in Beneful’s ingredients list because it helps retain the food’s

moisture, according to the suit.

 

Propylene glycol is a familiar ingredient in food safety cases. 

Fireball Whisky was recalled

 in Finland, Sweden, and Norway last October for what some claimed were
dangerous levels of the chemical in the product. No recall of the whisky was
made

in the U.S.

 

RELATED: 

Fireball: "All forumlas absolutely safe to drink"

 

In 

an article posted to Daily Beast

Tuesday, a Nestlé Purina spokesperson said, "We believe the lawsuit is
without merit, and we intend to vigorously defend ourselves. Beneful is a
high-quality,

nutritious food enjoyed by millions of dogs each year, and there are no
product quality issues with Beneful."

 

The lawsuit is asking that Nestlé Purina Petcare Company pay actual,
statutory and punitive damages to all those filed under the class action
suit -- as

well as forfeit any profits earned from the sale of the product in question.


 

< 

Document

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://nfbcal.org/pipermail/cagdu/attachments/20150224/5d38cd8f/attachment.html