A man from New York is suing Rachael Ray’s “natural” dog food brand called Nutrish for allegedly containing the “potentially harmful” herbicide glyphosate in the recipe.
Bronx resident Markeith Parks filed a $5-million class action lawsuit, which argues Ray’s company is deceiving consumers by marketing the dog food as “natural.”
“These claims are false, deceptive, and misleading,” the lawsuit reads, according to The Wrap. “The Products at issue are not ‘Natural.’ Instead, the Products contain the unnatural chemical glyphosate, a potent biocide and endocrine disruptor, with detrimental health effects that are still becoming known.”
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The suit also includes a photo of a bag of Nutrish, which shows the packaging reading, “Natural food for dogs” and “No artificial flavors or artificial preservatives.”
The document goes on to state that, “The products at issue are not ‘natural.’ Instead, the products contain the unnatural chemical glyphosate, a potent biocide and endocrine disruptor, with detrimental health effects that are still becoming known.”
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Glyphosate is often used in weed killers. According to court documents, the chemical was found by tests done by an independent lab.
The lawsuit says research shows glysphosate is a “probable” human carcinogen.
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Parks purchased the dog food several different times at BJ’s Wholesale Club on Exterior Street in the Bronx because he “saw, relied upon and reasonably believed Rachael Ray Nutrish’s representations that its products were ‘natural.'”
The lawsuit states that the source of the glyphosate in the dog food isn’t known to Parks, but speculates that “crops such as peas, soy, corn, beets and alfalfa are sprayed with the chemical in order to dry them and produce an earlier, more uniform harvest.”
The lawsuit continues: “By deceiving consumers about the nature, quality, and/or ingredients of the products, Rachael Ray Nutrish is able to sell a greater volume of the products.”
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Rachael Ray Nutrish is a branch of Ainsworth Pet Nutrition, which was recently bought by The J.M. Smucker Company for almost US$2 billion.
In a statement, the Smucker Company said it strongly stands “behind the quality of our products, ingredients, and sourcing practices. As animal lovers and humans, it goes without saying that we do not add pesticides to our products as an ingredient. We plan to aggressively fight these claims.”
A spokesperson for Rachael Ray said that Ray “has always championed the great lengths Ainsworth Pet Nutrition and now The J.M. Smucker Company take to create and provide the highest quality and safest pet food products on the market. This is why she does, and will continue to, feed Nutrish to her own dog Isaboo and her extended pet family.”
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