Champion Pet Food is facing another class action lawsuit, this time regarding Orijen and Acana Cat Food.
Filed in Illinois on June 22, 2018 – is another class action lawsuit against Champion Pet Food “for their negligent, reckless, and/or intentional practice of misrepresenting and failing to fully disclose the presence of heavy metals and toxins in their pet food sold throughout the United States.” This particular lawsuit is specific to Orijen and Acana Cat Food. The foundation of this Champion Cat Food lawsuit is similar to the previous dog food lawsuit, the pet food company is accused of selling cat food that “contain levels of arsenic, mercury, lead, cadmium, and/or bisphenol A (“BPA”) — all known to pose health risks to humans and animals, including cats.”
The lawsuit provides the following lab results:
Excerpts from the lawsuit:
Arsenic is deadly to cats in doses of just one to twelve milligrams per pound of body weight.
The Contaminated Cat Foods contain arsenic, which can affect the gastrointestinal and cardiovascular systems, as well as lead to circulatory collapse.
Additionally, the Contaminated Cat Foods contain mercury, which can cause damage to the kidneys and to the cardiovascular, nervous, and neurological systems in cats.
Side note: Both the dog food lawsuit and this cat food lawsuit quotes Champion Pet Foods trademarked claim of “Biologically Appropriate”. It appears someone else has challenged Champion with this trademark and won. Champion Pet Food’s trademark was cancelled June 2018.
You can read the full lawsuit Here.
You can contact the law firm Here.
Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,
Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
Association for Truth in Pet Food
Become a member of our pet food consumer Association. Association for Truth in Pet Food is a a stakeholder organization representing the voice of pet food consumers at AAFCO and with FDA. Your membership helps representatives attend meetings and voice consumer concerns with regulatory authorities. Click Here to learn more.
What’s in Your Pet’s Food?
Is your dog or cat eating risk ingredients? Chinese imports? Petsumer Report tells the ‘rest of the story’ on over 5,000 cat foods, dog foods, and pet treats. 30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee. Click Here to preview Petsumer Report. www.PetsumerReport.com
The 2018 List
Susan’s List of trusted pet foods. Click Here to learn more.
Have you read Buyer Beware? Click Here
Cooking pet food made easy, Dinner PAWsible
Find Healthy Pet Foods in Your Area Click Here
Rosanna Toth
July 18, 2018 at 11:40 am
Is this a recall for 2018? I’m only finding 2008 recall information online. I’m a bit concerned as I feed some Orijen to my cats.
Susan Thixton
July 18, 2018 at 11:45 am
This is not a recall – it is a lawsuit filed against the company.
Cheryl Bond
July 19, 2018 at 3:12 am
OMG! I use this food! & I just had one of my beloved cats die! & another is experiencing serious cardiovascular issues of an undetermined cause! Plus, several other of my cats vomiting!
What can I do, Susan!? I do NOT have the financial means to do a barrage of testing! & my dear cat that died is probably already cremated at this point!
Andee
July 20, 2018 at 5:52 pm
Cheryl, I’m so so sorry about your cats. Which food exactly have you been feeding them and for how long? How old are the cats? This whole situation makes me so nervous. I’m going to have a talk with my Vet about it. Do you think it would be a good idea to have the food you’ve been feeding them tested? I think there’s a link on this site to click on if you believe your pet has died or become ill from a food. I don’t see why it should cost you anything to make a complaint and have it investigated.
Hope
July 18, 2018 at 11:59 am
Susan, do you think the Clean Label Project continues in their zeal to attack Champion? Or, what else is behind this? Your thoughts/speculations are appreciated, too.
Hope
July 18, 2018 at 12:02 pm
Add to the above from me that I just researched “Mighty Raw….” and look like they use the “Biologically Appropriate” handle on their products. Interesting!
Susan Thixton
July 18, 2018 at 12:32 pm
I know everyone doesn’t agree, but me personally – I don’t think Clean Label Project was out to get any particular brand. I don’t agree with how they presented their information (and yes, I told them that – we’ve talked on the phone several times). I think they are just trying to point out (through testing) issues that need to be addressed. To me – if companies were smart, they would take the test results from Clean Label and use that as valuable information to improve their products. Source better quality ingredients. Stop using plastic packaging of ingredients to stop BPA contamination in foods. And more. Lab results are lab results – if methods are correct (and I have to assume they are) there is no arguing about them. Instead of battling with Clean Label Project, to me it’s a shame that companies didn’t recognize that something needs to be corrected.
I doubt the Clean Label Project has anything to do with the lawsuit, other than it appears the legal team used their lab results as evidence. But…that’s just my guess. I have not spoken with Clean Label or the law firm about this.
Alice
April 4, 2019 at 8:51 am
Hi, Susan. l trust what you said. But the problem is how can l get the food stuff since l am in China?
Pingback: Another Champion Pet Food Lawsuit, Now it is Cat Food - Pet News Hound
Terry Hain
July 18, 2018 at 12:52 pm
So when I posted this article in one of the FB groups to which I belong, I was told: “Here is another article saying the lawsuit might not hold up to scrutiny.. worth doing your own research from multiple sources. This article states the data came from a company that gave Alpo high marks https://www.petful.com/food/orijen-lawsuit-2018/” I immediately looked up the experts at Petful and was not impressed. I posted about the source for this article being Truth in Pet Foods and Susan Thixton and I know what she has been trying to accomplish for years. What have Petful experts been trying to do?
Susan Thixton
July 18, 2018 at 12:56 pm
Thanks Terry!
Ms. B Dawson
July 18, 2018 at 1:35 pm
One of the things that drives me nuts is the difficulty in making sense of these statistics as far as real exposure.
The emphasized quote says arsenic is fatal at ‘…1 to 12 MILLIgrams per POUND of BODY weight…’ while the lab results for arsenic are shown in MICROgrams per KILOgram of FOOD. That’s a fair amount of math to figure out how much of these contaminants a cat would be consuming in the daily diet. The 821.20 micrograms/kg of arsenic found in the Cat and Kitten formula converts to 0.821 milligrams/kg. Feeding guidelines for this formula are 0.057 kg (57 grams) daily. According to the quote, and using an 8 pound cat as an example, 8 to 96 milligrams of arsenic would be a fatal dose. So the numbers are not as terrifying as might be interpreted from a causal read, where many might see 1 – 12 mg as the fatal dose of arsenic. Should there be any detectable heavy metals in our food. No, but that’s not the world we live in.
The point I’m trying to make is this sort of muddled information leads to misunderstandings that are dangerous in this age of instantaneous sharing. A causal look at the numbers would leave some readers wondering why cats aren’t dropping dead by the hundreds. One does wonder why FDA isn’t jumping on THIS issue instead of putting out a formal warning about possible connections between cardiomyopathy and lentils and peas in a handful of dogs. Many of the chronic diseases in our pets can be traced back to sub-acute exposures of toxins such as heavy metals. FDA, USDA and AAFCO all need to be addressing this both by instituting unbiased testing programs and enforcing their own darn rules.
Please understand that I’m not defending Champion. Quality became a problem almost immediately upon opening their US manufacturing plant. It seems that growth destroys any company that starts out with good intentions. Now that Purina is courting the company, enough said. Actually, given it’s track record of buying stressed companies, I’m surprised that Mars isn’t swooping in.
The take away here should be just how contaminated our food supply is in general. Cooking down and processing food to create shelf stable convenience pet food (feed) concentrates not just nutrients but ALL the contaminates that have entered our food chain. At $7.99/pound for 4# of Orijen Cat and Kitten (local prices) the cost is darn close to feeding raw or homemade diets. Primal Grinds, for instance are $6.49/lb ($12.99 for a 2 pound chub ). Add a little ground muscle meat and whatever veg you’re making for yourself and you’ve got good control over what your pet is eating.
starlost
July 18, 2018 at 5:48 pm
It looks like your math is a little off, but I appreciate your taking the effort to try to break this down into a more sensible format. The numbers stated in the table are micrograms per kilogram of *food*, which has nothing to do with the lethal dose referenced in the lawsuit.
A 4 lb (1.81 kg) bag of Orijen Six Fish contains approximately 5.77 mg of arsenic (3.1875 mg As/kg food * 1.81 kg bag = 5.77 mg/bag). The daily recommended serving size for an 11 lb (4.9 kg) cat is 75 g, which means there are approximately 24 servings per bag (1.81 kg = 1810 g / 75 g/day = 24 days/bag). If you divide the arsenic content per bag (5.77 mg) by the number of servings per bag (24), you get 0.24 mg arsenic/daily serving. Using the 11 lb (4.9 kg) cat in this example, it would be consuming 0.049 mg/kg bw/day (0.24 mg As/serving / 4.9 kg kitty), which is far, far away from the lawsuit’s claim that “[a]rsenic is deadly to cats in doses of just one to twelve milligrams per pound of body weight.” Plus, simply stating the total arsenic content simply tells us that this heavy metal is present and not whether it is part of an inorganic or organic compound (e.g., arsenobetaine is a organic arsenic compound considered to be non-toxic). The numbers in the table all look high, but I think they’re presented this way deliberately to shock the average person who isn’t science-savvy. I didn’t crunch the numbers for the other contaminants, but the arsenic value alone for Six Fish seems unacceptably high even at 0.049 mg/kg bw/day (if it’s inorganic arsenic). Looks like we’ll just have to wait and see how this lawsuit shakes out…
Greg Griffin
July 18, 2018 at 7:28 pm
I noticed the same thing and compared it to the article released from Champion a while back that explains heavy metals: https://www.championpetfoods.com/wp-content/themes/champion-petfoods/res/research/Champion-Petfoods-White-Paper-Heavy-Metals.pdf
S. Chia
July 20, 2018 at 10:20 am
Heavy metals like arsenic and lead are cumulative toxins. They build up in the body if food containing them are continuously being consumed and symptoms will start to manifest when the levels stored in the body are high enough levels, eventually leading to death or permanent disability. So even though the levels of arsenic, say, are not high enough to cause acute toxicity in one meal, the arsenic will accumulate faster in the body of our cats if food containing higher levels of arsenic is being continuously consumed by them and will reach chronic toxicity levels faster.
Michelle Smith
July 27, 2018 at 10:02 pm
It is not only difficult to analyze the data but we don’t have data from other products for comparison. Arsenic is routinely fed to poultry to promote weight gain and will be concentrated in organ meat, which Champion includes a lot of in their meat based formulas. While I would expect that Champion’s farmer guidelines would include a “no arsenic’ clause, maybe that was overlooked? As for the levels in fish, that’s probably higher in Champion’s formulas because they don’t use only fish heads (which can cause hyperthyroidism). I don’t consider fish species appropriate for dogs and cats anyway and advocate protein rotation. All of that aside, when comparing foods that are high in meat content to those that are mostly corn, wheat, soy, millet, or chickpea protein, yep…all will be higher. And it is a pervasive issue in our food supply that affects all consumers.
B. White
July 18, 2018 at 4:53 pm
I knew there was something wrong with the Orijen Cat & Kitten dry food that I was feeding my cats, but how as an average consumer am I supposed to figure out that my cats were slowly being poisoned by toxic metals in a premium brand food?! Thank you Susan for posting this — because it’s not a recall, it doesn’t show up in my other news feeds. I recently took my cats off of Orijen Cat & Kitten dry food because after being on it exclusively for 2 years, one of my cats gradually lost close to 15% of her body weight and was increasingly throwing up her food. We also had problems with bloody diarrhea in our other cats. Our vet said it was suspected kidney disease, but he wasn’t willing to attribute it to her food. I suspected food allergies, so I switched all of our cats to Carna4 and started cooking organic human chicken breast (and added NOW brand Taurine powder to it) for our girl who lost all that weight. She has slowly started to regain weight and is eating some of the new Carna4 dry cat food as well, but she’s still weaker than she was prior to my feeding her Orijen. Also, all of the bloody diarrhea in our other cats has disappeared. The sole reason why I pay for premium foods is to avoid adulterated/toxic foods and the resulting serious health problems. Prior to Orijen, I had taken all of our cats (and our dog) off of Taste of the Wild brand food because I was concerned about the reputation of that particular manufacturer, but I thought based on my research that I could trust Orijen/Champion Pet Foods, and now I find out I was really wrong about that! What I’m learning from this is (a) we need lawyers to defend us and our pets because we can’t fight careless corporations by ourselves (please remember that the next time you say “I hate lawyers”); (b) we need Susan’s advocacy and tireless research because the rapidly changing pet food industry is too much for the average consumer, and even local pet food store owners who care, to keep up with (putting my money where my mouth is and sending in my first-time TAPF membership dues today); (c) I need to come up with a better method for tracking more gradual health changes in my pets, because the serious damage from this type of toxic metal poisoning takes a while to show up (appreciate suggestions from busy, multiple pet households); and (d) my vet needs a much better education on pet food – he doesn’t want to be involved in recommending one brand of food over another, but as a result of his ignorance, I think he’s leaving even his own beloved cats at risk for great harm!
Cheryl Bond
July 19, 2018 at 4:26 am
OMG‼️ I am right there with you! My cats have been eating the VERY expensive “premium” Orijen, & one of my beloved cats recently died! & another has cardiovascular issues. Many of my other cats have been vomiting ALOT! I thought it was just hairball accumulation! because with multiples, I, of course, cannot keep up with consistent enough brushing.
I am DEVESTATED hearing this information, knowing my dear beloved Delilah is gone! & probably because of Orijen!!!! I pray! that I can save my other cat! I’m OUTRAGED that I will NEVER be able to prove ANY of this! because I do not have the finances to do all kinds of testing & my Delilah has probably been cremated by now!
Helene Gardiner
September 16, 2018 at 11:58 am
I too had a cat on Orijen for several years, thinking I was feeding him the best quality food. He was diagnosed with kidney disease last year and died just before christmas. He vomited regularly but I too put it down to hairballs or eating something he shouldn’t have – perhaps this should have been the Orijen?!
Amy Prijatel
November 4, 2018 at 9:15 am
Wow! I reading your post and it makes my heart hurt. I feed my 1 year old cat & 7 mouth old kitten origins & I have noticed my 1 year old male looking thin & he didn’t keep his food down as like a cat should. My kitten seems to be doing find ( maybe for now) slow and steady death!? what raw food would you suggest? Thank you,
Amy
blowyourfunnyfuse
February 23, 2019 at 10:50 pm
my two cats suddenly recently both began with yellow diarrhea for a few days until I took them off the Acana Meadowlands and Weruva wet (i alternate with some other wet types as well) i’d been feeding them for years. it might have been just a stomach bug and since i rotate it’s hard to tell the culprit for sure, except the food i’ve been most consistent with and most recently feeding them with, was Acana.
Pat Torlen
July 18, 2018 at 6:53 pm
Are Champion cat foods in Canada contaminated as well?
Laura Mills
July 18, 2018 at 7:38 pm
Is there anywhere to find what these same heavy metal levels are in other pet food brands? How do they compare? No, they should not be in foods, but as others have said, they are. I am just curious if Champion is being called out for this reason or some other. If other brands have the same, higher, or lower levels I would like to know. I would hate to change foods only to find out what I was switching to was actually worse! I happen to think quite highly of the Orijen foods, so would like to know for sure.
Leanne Schultz
July 18, 2018 at 11:05 pm
The hair doesn’t lie. Heavy metals affect hair very much. So if you are paying for a premium food, and your cat’s coat looks bad, good chance there are a lot of heavy metals. And beware fish ingredients. Oceans are full of heavy metals now, and get concentrated in the food chain, i.e. food fish. And fish meals are cheap, high protein ingredients in cat foods, beloved by Champion. If you are feeding kibble, it must be an excellent quality kibble that does not make the cat vomit or give them a crappy looking coat. Their coat should shine, and be luxurious.
Leanne Schultz
July 18, 2018 at 11:11 pm
Laura, I fed Orijen, switched because cat wasn’t looking too good after a couple years. Then I fed Nature’s Variety, and switched when they started filling it with peas and legumes. Now I feed Petcurean Fit and Free, their high protein food. He looks good, nine years old, looks like he’s two. And able to free feed with no weight problems. I have no loyalty to any brand. They can change at a moment’s notice. So let their hair be your guide.
Greg Griffin
July 18, 2018 at 7:54 pm
I don’t understand the lawsuit. It states, “for their negligent, reckless, and/or intentional practice of misrepresenting and failing to fully disclose the presence of heavy metals and toxins in their pet food sold throughout the United States.” It was filed in June, 2018. Champion posted an article about the same four heavy metals mentioned in the lawsuit and this article back in May of 2017: https://www.championpetfoods.com/wp-content/themes/champion-petfoods/res/research/Champion-Petfoods-White-Paper-Heavy-Metals.pdf The numbers are the same when you convert the lawsuit’s “ug” (micrograms) to Champion’s “mg” (milligrams).
I’m not arguing that the levels of heavy metals in the Champion brand cat foods listed in the lawsuit and this article don’t pose a health risk (I haven’t researched this too much so I don’t know), but the levels of heavy metals have been public information, listed directly on Chapion’s website for over a year before this lawsuit was filed.
So now I’m curious to who is actually behind this lawsuit. Is it another one of those cases of a competitor using shady tactics in an attempt to hurt the competition, in this case by filing a lawsuit that of course will get spread online and then picked up by more major media outlets? I hope Champion is legally allowed to respond to this very soon.
Cheryl Bond
July 19, 2018 at 4:56 am
The average person is NOT checking manufacturers websites on any kind of a regular basis for updates of
poisonings for heavy metals, or other issues. If Orijen KNEW about this, then they should have printed the FDA with this information & did a voluntary recall, due which the FDA should have launched a further investigation, & then recalled the product! This is a HEINOUS miscarriage of justice! & now because of this, one of my beloved cats is dead! & another w/ cardiovascular issues, and I probably will never be able to prove it, because I can’t afford a bunch of expensive tests to prove it! Champion should be ashamed of themselves and I am disgusted at their lack of morality!
I have spent so much money that I really couldn’t afford, buying their food thinking I was doing the best I could for my cats! Only to now know, they’ve killed one of my cats, potentially almost killing another, and who knows how many others of mine they’ve poisoned!!! That I will never be able to prove!!!!!
Melissa Adams
July 26, 2018 at 7:10 pm
thank you! my cats has been on it and one has been sick and looks terrible the other has heart issues and they are both 3yrs. Many vet visits telling my vet about the great diet i feed my cats…. my other 2 persians ate Orjin and Acana dry both died of cancer.
Andee
July 18, 2018 at 8:20 pm
Why are they putting arsenic in the food, for what purpose? Do all dry cat foods contain arsenic? Shouldn’t it be listed in the ingredients? This isn’t good news. I thought Orijen was the best cat food on the market, even my Vet agreed. Now what do we do? I’m still thinking it’s best not to feed the same food all the time. Rotate different brands. I’m glad other posters are naming what other brands they’re trying. Orijen has such an outstanding ingredients list, where did the arsenic come from?!
Flemming Schneider
July 19, 2018 at 2:50 am
Nature you eat it too..
Tryniti
July 19, 2018 at 3:28 am
Andee, they are not putting arsenic in the food, heh. As explained above, several times, by other commentors, heavy metals are present in the environment and inevitably end up in our food. MOST food has toxic metals in them – but in miniscule amounts. Apples have arsenic in their cores/seeds just naturally, but you would have to eat 22 apples – cores, seeds, and all, to get a dose high enough to hurt you. This is an important opportunity for you to learn more about not only what is in your pet’s food – regardless of where it comes from – but also how to research and learn about things that you don’t understand. Having a basic knowledge of biology, nutrition, and math can go a very long way in giving you a foundation to make better decisions in your choices of food for both you and your pets – and get you started on the path of desiring knowledge so you can understand basic issues like this. 🙂
starlost
July 19, 2018 at 8:36 am
Andee, they’re not adding arsenic to the foods. It’s present in the fish that they use. In fact, it’s in a lot of things we eat and drink, including seafood, dairy products, and even water.
Ms. B Dawson
July 19, 2018 at 11:51 am
No one is adding arsenic or heavy metals to pet food. They are present in the slaughtered animals used to produce the food and possibly in the water used for processing.
Heavy metals can be naturally occurring – arsenic can leach into ground water from certain minerals in the Earth’s crust, for instance. “Unnatural” sources can come from run off and sewage discharges into streams and oceans, releasing not just heavy metals but pharmaceutical residues as well. These then accumulates in the bodies of fish, especially those that are bottom feeders (flounder) or those who eat other fish (salmon). Warnings about mercury levels in some fish have been around for decades.
The practice of using dried sewage to fertilize pastures can introduce heavy metals into the fodder and grain or soy consumed by cows, sheep and poultry. Although the practice is supposed to be monitored by EPA, I have serious doubts about the veracity of enforcement. Further, incineration of trash as well as various manufacturing processes send heavy metals up smoke stacks. What goes up must come down and the particles persist in the soil and on plant material, eventually migrating into whatever consumes the crops.
As was pointed out by another post, there is a difference between organic and inorganic forms of things like arsenic. In a nutshell, the inorganic forms are the ones that generally cause health problems. Organic arsenic found in seafood, for instance, is not known to be toxic to humans, according to CDC.
This is one more thing not shown by the lab data. The numbers don’t distinguish the form of the heavy metals. There are a lot of questions left unanswered by this data which looks damning until you tease it apart.
Hopefully Susan will continue to update the lawsuit as I’m interested to see what the outcome will be.
Dianne & Pets
July 20, 2018 at 11:10 pm
It was recently discovered that rice takes up a lot of arsenic, some so bad that they are a hazard. That would be another source for arsenic in pet food.
ChaCha
August 2, 2018 at 6:04 am
YEP……recent study was that BROWN RICE has very high levels of arsenic, so much for healthy rice as it is also used by many PET FOOD MFGs as a leading GRAIN fiber carb filler ingedient ….not a good/smart move!!!
Mw
July 19, 2018 at 4:57 am
I am just curious, why don’t these people go after royal canine, and other brands that are way worse? Is it just because they don’t claim it is “fit for human consumption”? Who is behind this lawsuit? Is it a competitor?
Jane Cline
July 19, 2018 at 6:13 pm
They tested many different brands. A few tested 5 star, but hard to understand why some low-grade dog foods got such hight ratings. Just go to their web-site and see it all.
Amber Abuja
July 19, 2018 at 9:37 pm
The brands like Royal Canin simply have too much supportfrom the industry behind them due to ther financial incentives.
Mw
July 19, 2018 at 5:05 am
Nevermind. Just found the link to last year when judge ruled in their favor. Mars rules the world, it seems. Travesty!
Amy
July 19, 2018 at 9:47 am
A big concern about heavy metals – they don’t leave the body just because you switch the food. The metals stay stored in the body fat and liver and slowly leach out over time. The above information is scary; our pets need to be detoxified! There are some great homeopathic detoxification remedies that tend to be quite gentle (reach out to your holistic health care provider). Not only do we need to feed the best food we can, we also need to make sure there aren’t any lasting effects from what we accidentally fed unknowingly putting toxins into their bodies!
Regina
July 19, 2018 at 11:05 am
Grain of salt check here.
As Susan mentioned in response to the very first comment above, this is just a lawsuit that has been filed. This is NOT a recall. ANYONE can file a lawsuit, whether it has merit or not.
I talk to a lot of people about all of the misinformation spreading on the internet, and I have had people show me “proof” that there is a problem with a food because a friend sent them “a link” so they know it is legit. Well, the link I’ve been shown is https://topclassactions.com/ This site makes this claim at the top of their website “Connecting consumers to settlements, lawsuits & attorneys” in the top left corner of their home page, with their logo.
This site lists EVERY suit filed in the U.S., in every area of consumer product imaginable. As soon as a suit is filed, it goes up on the website. And in this day and age, information (and MISinformation) travels at the speed of light across the internet. Of course, all the suits that are dismissed, well, that information doesn’t travel nearly as far and fast.
I looked at another pet food related site that a lot of folks refer to https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/forums/topic/orijen-acana-lawsuit/ where someone asked Mike Sagman about the safety of their pet’s food. Here is Mike’s response to the news of this lawsuit.
“Unlike recalls, lawsuits are based on complaints and accusations only. And when they result in a settlement, the truth or falsehood of the allegations are usually not revealed to the public.
Each of our reviews is based upon the factual information we retrieve from government-regulated and standardized pet food labels… and nothing else.
If you’ll Google the name of almost any major brand, you’ll likely find hundreds of complaints, claims and lawsuits for many of their products.
Once any dog food has been confirmed to have a serious problem, the FDA expects the related company to voluntarily recall its product.
Until we know with certainty if a particular dog food has been tested and recalled, it would be unfair and irresponsible for us to consider unverified claims when writing our reviews.”
OK. I just needed to vent a bit about how quickly information spreads, whether it is legit or not.
I am not negating the pain of anyone who has lost a pet after feeding this food, and is now wondering about the connection.
I am not speaking for or against this particular brand of pet food, that is not the point I am trying to make here. I do feel that there is a major failure of the folks who are supposed to ensure that foods are safe. FDA is a joke, all regulations are a joke unless they are enforced. It is a shame that when someone has a serious problem with something that is supposed to be safe, their only recourse is to file a lawsuit. And, there are plenty of lawyers out there who no longer only have to chase ambulances.
That being said, it is also a problem that when these suits are filed, it takes so long to get to the truth, learn whether the claims are valid, or just someone trying to tarnish a good brands’ reputation. (No one tasked with ensuring the safety of these foods bothers to have a fire lit under them to get off their butts and investigate.) Until the people who are supposed to keep our food supply safe step up and do their job, we will continue to worry, and when we hear of cases like this, we all worry so much about our furbabies, just wondering if we could have done anything differently to keep them safe . . . .no one who has not lost a pet loved as much as our own will ever understand the “what ifs” we torture ourselves with.
I appreciate Susan keeping us informed on all of the shenanigans in the pet food/feed industry, but, I just get a bit bothered by something like this, helping to spread like wildfire something that she herself has no knowledge of the legitimacy of.
Maybe I’m just so sensitive about misinformation, having been a victim of it myself in the past.
We will all keep trying to do the best we can, but, these lawsuits could just be someone with an axe to grind.
Again, if you have lost a pet, I am in no way negating your pain. Just keep in mind, there are so many variables, so many dangers out there, And now, I must go, I’ve got a cat that is annoyed I’ve been ignoring her for too long.
Susan Thixton
July 19, 2018 at 11:45 am
To me Regina – lawsuits are not something to be dismissed lightly. Yes, it could be the lawsuit has no or little merit. But – equally so, it could be the lawsuit is trying to right a wrong. Unfortunately, lawyers are often better regulators of pet food than those that are paid to be regulators (at tax payer expense). I believe consumers deserve to know about all of these issues.
Terence
August 13, 2019 at 5:20 pm
Sorry, I know this is an old post. I’m here because of my own concerns around this brand line and pretty much agree with the points you have raised, and in a sense want to add to that. Namely, those that filed the suit, whatever merits it has, didn’t hire the best legal team: That class action law suit is extremely sloppily written. It is illogically argued and conflates a number of basic scientific concepts, jumping randomly between ideas sentence to sentence. I’m a college level biology professor and would give it no more than 6/10 at best. Example, quote: “Arsenic is deadly to cats in doses of just one to twelve milligrams per pound of body weight. Drinking water with levels greater than 0.25ppm is considered potentially toxic, especially to large animals.” In these two sentences they compare an acute dose with background environmental levels. The former is to do with acute poisoning, the latter cumulative effects over time. If we convert to the same units we have 12,000 ug vs 0.25 ug. You cannot equate the two. What point was the author making? Additionally, nowhere in the article is “arsenic” defined as either organic or inorganic, which have vastly differing toxicities. This would seem to be 101 information if you are making an accusation of legal culpability and intending to convince a judge.
Presumably the law firm that compiled this advertise as having some form of experience in medical/scientific class actions, which is a specialized field of expertise. This is shoddy work by any standard and not worth the paper it is written on IMHO.
Mary
July 20, 2018 at 12:18 am
Not sure why people keep feeding GARBAGE to their dogs & cats! It doesn’t matter if it is expensive GARBAGE dry kibble or not – its ALL garbage – wake up people and your dogs & cats have always eaten for I’m so tired of saying this – thousands and thousands and thousands of years – complete raw diets! Their bodies have always been designed to eating “complete” raw diets made primarily from herbivore animals not tons of stupid chicken turkey and never any pork! They have not had any bullcrap of evolution where their internal organs have changed – no they do not have all this different genes than their wild ancestors to allow them to eating GARBAGE from a bag and even most canned foods are horrible for your pets as well (I do recommend some but the list is very short)
Comes down to human convenience and people being sheep(followers) and only believing the idiocy of allopathic vets and the Pet Food Industry – your pets internal organs are identical & work identically to their wild ancestors the wolf and all wild cats……so you should be feeding them exactly how they have eaten before the PFI fooled most people around the world. I’m not being harsh – I’m speaking the truth and I’m tired of the BS
Carolyn
August 6, 2018 at 10:44 am
So true
Lorayne Lapin
July 21, 2018 at 3:14 pm
Does this apply to the Canadian food also? I am fortunate to live near the border and can go across to get the food made in Canada. As soon as I noticed the difference, and read the label to see the switch to Kentucky, I crossed over! I feed mainly raw (or gently cooked chicken and/or turkey) and use the Orijen only to supplement and when I am away
Mary – I agree with you wholeheartedly. Riki is 11 and looks and acts like a 2 year old!
Michelle Smith
July 28, 2018 at 4:50 am
This link from 2017 contains a relevant response from Champion Petfoods to the Clean Label report:
https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2017/05/24/lead-mercury-arsenic-cadmium-found-in-popular-pet-foods/
Liz
July 30, 2018 at 4:06 pm
Having read this post, I will definitely we changing my pets over to another brand. Horrified that my pet food store This is a letter I just now sent to Acana:
Hello:
RE: ACANA REGIONAL WILD ATLANTIC CAT FOOD
3006607-72921
BB 20 APRIL 2019 16:29 NB
We have been feeding our dogs and cats Acana for years. Yesterday, as I was scooping out the cat food from the bag, I was disturbed to find a blob of coagulated food and something else that was totally green with mold. Probably 3″ x 2″. I have kept it in a baggie, and have some photographs.
Finding something like this in the food I feed by beloved fur family, in what I thought was prime quality food from a prime company has shattered my faith in Acana. I will be taking this to to show to the folks at Hollywood Pet Feed, where I purchase all my pet products.
I hope you have some sort of reasonable explanation for this failure in quality control. I would be glad to forward you a photo and the offending blob of mold.
Look forward to hearing from you at your very, very earliest convenience.
Best,
Liz Manugian
ChaCha
August 2, 2018 at 5:52 am
Ms Liz…..thx, but just curious as its now been apprx, 4 months since your letter, so did you ever get this mold-like clump of Acana kibble /sample tested by Champion with their response, what was their reply? What action if any did you or they take to remedy the awful experience?
Fyi, Getting concerned n abit nervous nowvwithball the negative publicity with Champions Acana re. Heavy Metals toxicity, n the Grain Free Diet thats now being investigated by FDA that may lead to Dialated Myocardio Disease/Enlarged Heart Muscle due ti lack if Taurine Amino Acid with several large-size breeds.
Thx gid our 5 yr old GSPointer dog has been on Acana for last 4 yrs without any problems after switching over from Innova Puppy/MARS dropped line to to too many recalks issues n slipping marketshare/sales, n Blue Buffalo due to irreg. Greenish stool n allergy.!
Liz Manugian
August 2, 2018 at 2:30 pm
Actually, ChaCha, I only posted my observations this week, not 4 months ago. Champion has offered me gift coupons to replace my bags of Acana, but I just took all my Acana (opened and unopened) back to my local retailer and they gave me an immediate refund on all of it. I also gave them the huge blob to inspect. I don’t know if they will have it analyzed. I sent photos of it to Acana, and was surprised that they did not ask me to send it up to them.
My local store did say they were aware of the Champion lawsuit, but had been told that there was probably no merit to it. I will believe that only when I see it being dismissed, or when Champion defends themselves with some sort of credibility. It is a dual edged sword: anyone can file a lawsuit, one never knows if it has merit to it. And then the accused party has to launch a very expensive defense. If they are innocent, it should be fairly easy, but in this litigious society of ours, it never is. Just waiting to see how this plays out. Also, keep wondering if the Nestle buyout is just wild rumor or otherwise …
In any event, I am now gradually changing my cats over to Fromm grain free, just until I have time to do more research.
Candace P
August 3, 2018 at 12:09 pm
If you look at the Clean Label Project site there are some other brands on there that are pretty poorly rated that I am surprised about, such as Open Farm and Primal.
With products that they promote as Human Grade I’m surprised by this. I know that some contamination comes with the territory, ie high levels of arsenic in rice and mercury in some fish, but I’d like to know more about the ratings and what SPECIFIC contaminants and metals are high in each of these products.
I cannot find anywhere where they give the raw data where it lists the food brand and name, but I can also understand they don’t want to have any legal consequences from posting data that will potentially cause customers to switch.
Cher
August 5, 2018 at 10:30 pm
Is cat food that is currently on the shelves affected or is this a current law suit that goes to a past (& rectified) contamination?
Dick Young
August 31, 2018 at 12:59 pm
That trademark cancellation was most likely an argument between two pet food manufacturers who used the same phrase – “Biologically Appropriate.” It’s unlikely that the cancellation had anything to do with food quality, rather with who was first to register/use the phrase.
sam
March 30, 2019 at 10:23 pm
OMG I WANT TO CRY!! I switched my cat from Hills to this brand thinking I was feeding her the best! It’s no better. I was paying more money for nothing. I feel like you just can’t win. what an evil company.