Blue Buffalo In Hot Soup Over Controversy To By-Product Meal In Pet Food

Are Blue Buffalo products really healthy and of superior nutrition? You might be very surprised, but before you buy your Blue Buffalo product you need to read this.

On the 6th of May 2014, Nestle Purina Petcare filed a lawsuit against Blue Buffalo for false advertising following some tests results that revealed the presence of poultry by-product meal in some of it’s highest selling pet foods. As soon as this lawsuit was filed, Blue Buffalo’s CEO responded by claiming that the testing was “voodoo science” and assured it’s customers by saying that, “Blue Buffalo does not use chicken by-product meal or poultry by-product meal in any of our products.” The letter they wrote in response to the lawsuit read,

Dear Pet Parents,

I’m writing to you about the lawsuit Nestle Purina filed today alleging that Blue Buffalo has lied to you about the ingredients in our pet foods. We categorically deny all of these false allegations and will aggressively defend the integrity of our brand and our products. It is an easy thing to make unsubstantiated claims, put them in a lawsuit and then publish them all over the web to disparage and defame a company. It is quite another thing to prove those allegations.

Please be assured that unlike Nestle Purina:

Blue Buffalo does not use chicken by-product meal or poultry by-product meal in any of our products
Blue Buffalo does not use ground corn in any of our products
Blue Buffalo does not use artificial preservatives in any of our products

We will prove these and other matters in the court with good reliable evidence, and we look forward to disproving the voodoo science that Nestle Purina relied on to support their outrageous allegations.

We’re disappointed to see one of the largest food companies in the world with over $100 billion in sales launching such a baseless lawsuit against a family-run company and attempting to prosecute it on the Internet. In some ways this attack by Nestle Purina is not too surprising, since pet parents have demonstrated their preference by selecting true natural foods like Blue Buffalo instead of the by-product and corn-based pet foods Nestle Purina has been selling for years. In fact, their inability to compete successfully with natural pet foods is the key motivation for this frivolous lawsuit.

My sons and I founded Blue Buffalo with the mission of bringing transparency to pet foods, and made the True Blue Promise to our pet parents. Clearly, some of our major competitors, who have built their business using lower cost ingredients, are upset. We will always stand behind our promise and our products.

We have a saying at Blue Buffalo: “When we’re right, we fight.” We look forward to seeing Nestle Purina in court.

Sincerely,

Bill Bishop
Founder and Chairman
Blue Buffalo

Source: Truth About Pet Food

Now up until this part you understand that Purina accused Blue Buffalo and Blue Buffalo denied the accusations, right? Well looks like the Purina folks had all the evidence and submitted them in court which forced Blue Buffalo to come out clean. Late last week, Purina alleged that a “substantial” and “material” portion of Blue Buffalo pet food sold to consumers contained poultry by-product meal, despite pervasive advertising claims to the contrary. Eventually, Blue Buffalo requested the Court for additional time so they’re able to file an Amended Complaint because it’s ingredient suppliers were Defendants.

To shed more light on the matter, a spokesperson for Nestlé Purina Petcare called Keith Schopp mentioned, “Despite this admission, Blue Buffalo still has not informed consumers of the presence of poultry by-product meal in Blue Buffalo pet food, refuses to accept responsibility for the product it sold, and is instead blaming its suppliers.“

He went on to add, “Only when faced with undeniable evidence from the lawsuit has Blue Buffalo admitted the truth to the court: a ‘substantial’ and ‘material’ portion of Blue Buffalo pet food sold over the past several years contained poultry by-product meal. It is unclear to us if or when this practice stopped, or whether any Blue Buffalo pet food containing by-product meal is still on store shelves. Through a $50 million annual advertising campaign that flooded airwaves and pet food aisles alike, Blue Buffalo told consumers over and over, emphatically and without qualification, that its products never contain poultry by-product meal“

Now that’s pretty rough, I’d say.

To add more to this, Schopp concluded by saying, “Blue Buffalo now claims it had no way of knowing the bags contained by-product meal. A manufacturer is responsible for knowing what’s in its product, and a simple audit of its supply chain would have revealed what we discovered after reviewing the documentation. Blue Buffalo owes consumers an apology for all the false statements, false labels, and false advertising. More than this, it is time for Blue Buffalo to be transparent with the public and prove to their ‘pet parents’ that no mislabeled product remains on shelves.”

Now this I’d like to see. Please make sure that your pet is eating healthy food, because claims like this is definitely worrying me. I bet it is worrying you too. We love our pets too much to risk their lives feeding them food we have no idea about.

Article Source: Nestle Purina PetCare/PR Newswire

Feature Image Source: fox2now.com