We recently heard about a legal case in which the leading brand of Acana dog food in the United States faced a legal suit challenging its effectiveness. There are many brands of dog food on the market and most of them have good quality. The brand in question, Acana, is produced by the Toy Company. It is one of the best brands available. According to the details of the lawsuit, the dog food contains fillers like wheat, corn, and soy which do not contribute to the nutritional value of the dog’s diet, but are added in order to save time during the manufacturing process. The manufacturer, in turn, does not get any benefit from such ingredients.
The lawsuit was filed by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) and the National Association of Home Breeders. The manufacturers claim that the Fillers are necessary to give the food its crunchy, consistent flavor. However, the courts have ruled against the manufacturers. In essence, the courts have stated that the manufacturers were only able to receive a ‘passing’ score on their label based on the fact that the foods did not contain any ingredients which are required by law to be present on the label of dog food. This essentially means that the lawsuit has no merit.
For the legal group, this ruling is actually quite unfortunate. Because all dogs deserve to eat safe, wholesome food. In recent years, pet food recalls have led to severe contaminated pet food poisoning cases and many deaths. The courts have also ruled in favor of the dogs who have died as a direct result of tainted pet food.
The legal battle was ignited by a class-action lawsuit filed by the Pet Products Safety Commission (PPSC). The PPSC is an independent government agency. Their mission is to ensure the safety of America’s dogs. They received a complaint from Dr. Mercola, a veterinarian from Vermont. He was trying to post information about ingredients on his website without first getting the approval of the FDA. The FDA is not involved in the manufacturing of dog food.
Dr. Mercola included an ingredient called BHA in his website. BHA is a naturally occurring substance found in human skin. It is used in many common shampoos and conditioners because it is an effective preservative. However, the manufacture of dog food had not considered adding BHA as an ingredient, and therefore it was included in this product.
Because of this contamination, the company has decided to take legal action. While they admit that the manufacturing process went wrong, they also admit that since the BHA was in the dog food, the preservative was released into the dog food, as well. Therefore, they are looking to have this case settle out of court. Obviously, for this to happen, the plaintiff’s attorney will have to negotiate a very large settlement.