Purina Beneful Statement on Amended Class Action Complaint

As pet lovers who proudly make and feed our products to our own pets, we are deeply disturbed by the ongoing false and unsubstantiated allegations in the June 8 amended complaint by class action lawyers attacking Beneful. The fact is that Beneful is a safe, high-quality dog food enjoyed by more than 15 million healthy, happy dogs each year. There are no quality issues with Beneful, a fact backed up by independent expert sources including leading veterinarians, the FDA, millions of loyal pet owners, and Purina food scientists and employees who make and feed Beneful to their own pets.

The class action lawyers clearly care more about dollars than dogs. Their amended complaint not only contains false allegations, but is completely absent of any validated product testing, or test results of any kind for their list of injured pets. In fact, they offer absolutely no linkage between Beneful and the alleged pet illnesses.

The amended complaint makes a series of wild allegations designed to stoke fear and gather clients. There is not a shred of evidence to substantiate any of their false claims. Here are the facts.

Beneful is not formulated with “Industrial Grade Glycol” (IGG). In fact, Beneful is made with high-quality human food-grade levels or above propylene glycol. This ingredient has been approved by the FDA as safe for years for use in dog foods and a variety of human foods including ice creams, salad dressing and cake mixes.

As part of our comprehensive food safety and ingredient surveillance programs, we test for well over 150 substances — including mycotoxins, lead and arsenic – to ensure the quality and safety of our pet foods.Beneful does not contain harmful levels of mycotoxins, lead or arsenic. In a typical 24-hour production, Nestlé Purina conducts 30,000 documented quality checks involving ingredient/packaging, receiving, processing and packing. We meet or exceed every major food quality and safety standard including those issued by the FDA, USDA and AAFCO.

The pet food testing cited in the amended complaint actually confirms that each of the 11 pet food brands sampled met all U.S. requirements for pet food. The Pet Food Institute states: “Mycotoxins detected were well below the levels set by FDA.”

Consumers and their pets are our top priority, and when we learn of their questions or concerns, we proactively reach out to them. If consumers have complaints – whether validated or not – we have at times responded to them and offered some compensation as a goodwill gesture. Companies in every industry do this in order to provide the best customer service. This is something we’ve been doing for years. The notion that this is something we just started, or that there’s some sort of negative motive here, is more nonsense generated by class action lawyers.

Bottom line – Beneful is a safe, nutritious, high-quality dog food. We look forward to proving the false nature of this frivolous class action lawsuit through the Courts, as we have done in two prior similar cases.

Beneful is made in the U.S. in Purina-owned and operated facilities. In fact, we're so proud of Beneful that we've decided to showcase the men and women who make Beneful and feed it to their own dogs. Watch how we stand behind Beneful, here.

Posted June 9, 2015