Blue Buffalo agrees to pay $32 million to settle pet food lawsuits
Blue Buffalo agrees to pay $32 million to settle pet food lawsuits
December 11, 2015
http://www.examiner.com/article/blue-buffalo-to-pay-32m-to-settle-pet-food-lawsuits
Premium pet food maker Blue Buffalo announced Dec. 10 that it has agreed to pay $32 million to settle class-action lawsuits that claim the company did not live up to its pledge to avoid using poultry by-products.
Blue Buffalo, of Wilton, Conn., said in a statement that it “denies any wrongdoing” but “has agreed to this settlement to eliminate the uncertainties, burden and expense of further litigation.” A federal court still must approve the settlement, which results from lawsuits filed on behalf of consumers who bought Blue Buffalo products.
Blue Buffalo acknowledged in May that a Texas supplier had given it a mislabeled ingredient. It said that “a substantial proportion” of the “chicken meal” it received from the supplier before May 2014 was, in fact, poultry by-product meal. Chicken meal is chicken meat that is ground up and dried, while poultry by-product meal, a less expensive pet food ingredient, can include ground-up and dried intestines, necks and feet. Blue Buffalo, which advertises that it does not use by-products and other “undesirable” ingredients, said it is pursuing legal claims against the now-former supplier and a broker.
"While we will continue to pursue our claims against them, we decided that it is in the best interest of our pet parents and our company to resolve the class actions now," said Bill Bishop, Blue Buffalo's chairman and founder. "All of us at Blue Buffalo continue to work tirelessly to make pet food with the finest natural ingredients for our furry family members."
Blue Buffalo has said that the extent of the ingredient mislabeling surfaced during proceedings in a separate false-advertising lawsuit filed by rival Purina. Purina’s lawsuit, which makes claims similar to the class-action suits, is still pending. In a statement on the class-action settlement, Purina called the agreement "the largest pet food class-action settlement ever" and said it is “pleased Blue Buffalo is beginning to accept responsibility for its false advertising and mislabeling.”
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Along with veins and arteries, brains, fat, skin, eyeballs and crushed bone/bone marrow. So long as they weren't rotting sweepings off the plant floor that had been stepped on or contaminated by cleaning chemicals, the same as the socially acceptable "human-grade" chicken meal consisting only of meat, I'd have no problem with these being in cat or dog food.
There's all sorts of extra enzymes, minerals, and other types of critical proteins in these carcass components that are critical for animal growth and health. The issue with factory by-products is in the processing, so a company that can manage by-products with the least amount of spoilage and potential bacterial contamination should be able to incorporate them safely in their pet food product. In all honesty, that is the only real issue with using by-products; commercially, animal by-products are not treated with the same care as commercial human-grade meat (...is supposed to be) so there's more chance of contamination or health issues when incorporating them into food.
So companies - go ahead and call out exactly what animal by-products are being used in your pet food (or even human food!) - and make sure that it's also "safe for human consumption" while you're at it.
All over the world, brains, organs (including intestines - gizzards - and "sweetmeats"
, fat, skin, eyeballs, and bone marrow are featured in many human dishes, also. It's primarily that in the US (land of corporate convenience food), these otherwise edible pieces-parts are considered "icky" and unacceptable for the general public. People, you're omnivores - just like most of the Ape species. It's more harmful both spiritually and resource-wise to throw away half of carcass you are otherwise using for food because of some socially sanitized "meat comes from the grocery-store chill area" way of thinking of meat.
I respect vegetarians when it comes to dealing with meat products far more than I respect people who will turn up their noses at anything flesh-based other than what they recognize wrapped in plastic at their local corporate store.
If you're going to be an omnivore or carnivore, know what that means to you and the environment, and own it!
BTW, I'd like to see Nutira used in food for cats and dogs, also. Since rodents are on the menu for most wild felines and canines, it makes far more health sense to have something that a cat or dog would actually hunt or be able to scavenge if they were on their own rather than beef or ocean-based seafood.
Haele