A class action lawsuit alleges a pet food manufacturer misrepresented its dog food as all natural when it actually contained artificial ingredients.
George Thomas, Ginger Franks, Randy Smith and Michelle Sampson filed the lawsuit on Monday against Heart Pet Brands, more commonly known as Del Monte Corporation, alleging the food under the brand name Nature's Recipe is falsely marketed as all natural.
The lawsuit said the label “affirmatively misrepresents” that Nature's Recipe contains no artificial preservatives when it contains compounds that include “mixed tocopherols, dicalcium phosphate, inositol, ferrous sulfate, copper sulfate and sodium trypolyphosphate.”
The company makes four types of recipes of the dog food and advertises on its website that the recipes “help provide specific nutritional or functional benefits.”
“Defendant knowingly and purposefully failed to disclose to its consumers that the Nature’s Recipe products are not actually 'all natural,'” the lawsuit said. “To this day, Defendant has taken no meaningful steps to clear up consumers’ misconceptions regarding its product.”
The lawsuit seeks more than $5 million in damages, plus court costs. The plaintiffs are represented by Tim Howard, of Howard & Associates, P.A., of Tallahassee, Florida.
United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida Tallahassee Division case number 4:15-cv-00048.