Purina files lawsuit against Blue Buffalo
 

This should be interesting to follow:


Purina Accuses Rival Blue Buffalo of Misleading Consumers | Fox Business

oh wow now that is a slap in the face....if this all unfolds as purina is hoping. yikes.

Yes will be interesting to see if they put a gag order on it

oh and i meant to add if BB is really falsely advertising....I guess there are no companies you can trust in the pet food industry anymore.

Oh my! Is this the first time one food manufacturer has filed against another for false advertising? If so, it could set an interesting precedent. Would like to see this lead to better regulation of dog food production and more transparency for the benefit of consumers.

I'm excited to see how this turns out. BB is not that expensive. No way can they use top of the line ingredients.

I guess I don't quite understand the lawsuit. I don't like Blue Buffalo, and their response to this lawsuit amused me (they claimed to be a 'family owned company'). But why is Purina suing them exactly? Are they claiming that BB is doing something bad to Purina as a company? Or... they're simply suing claiming them to be mislabeling? I mean... are Purina's Beneful commercials NOT false advertising? Not that they don't have cute commercials, because they do, but the images of healthy fresh cut REAL chicken and REAL beef falling from the sky aren't exactly truthful either?

Either way, I agree with Kristin, this could be interesting and possibly a good step to more uniformity within the pet food industry.

I think the pics aren't regulated. It is the ingredient list. Purina is probably saying BB is taking money from larger companies by not telling truth in ingredient list.

That was my take on it. I wondered how long the larger companies were going to put up with the misleading marketing that has been going on for so long now. They all know the key words to sway consumers. The dentist has made a lot of money off of the marketing ploys.
I too hope it leads to better oversight of all pet foods.

Gotcha! That makes sense.

Plus on their website BB has a comparison chart and I think Purina is one of the foods they compare... I wonder if that is an issue? But I think Hills does that too.

Maybe they can add something about their nonsensical wolf commercial.

Blue Buffalo's response:

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

So Purina tests other pet food company foods?
A grain free kibble can never be grain free (in this case corn) bc the cattle, lamb or whatever other protein they use eats grains...so I choose to feed my guys 'naturally grass fed' raw food...unless Purina tests those to prove them wrong.

After watching the online video about how most commercial dog foods were made (and getting physically SICK!) I quickly changed Halo's food to Fromms Food. They've never had a recall. I depend on The Dog Food Advisor now.

To be honest, I wouldn't depend on Dog Food Advisor either. He's no more credible than someone like me, who is simply interested in dogs and dog nutrition. He doesn't take things into account such as recalls, quality control, etc.

But, Fromm is a very good brand. I wouldn't worry much with them.

The dog food advisor is a human dentist.

The meat of animals eating grains doesn't make their meat contain grain or even carbohydrates. It's still muscle meat. It may mean that the animals' muscles are fattier or even lacking in excess omega 3s as found in grass fed animals but it's not really that important if the entire diet is appropriately balanced.

This statement from BB is hilarious..

"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."

I hardly think Purina can't compete. I think sales figures really indicate the consumer preference. As BB points out, Purina has 100 billion in sales.

I know Dog Food Advisor is a Dentist for people, I also know he is an authority on reading dog food labels & interpreting the ingredients on all pet foods and this is why he's an "advisor." He also informs people about recalls, ratings, reviews, etc. based on his own personal tragedy after feeding contaminated dog food to his own dog. This is why I trust him.

He's a self proclaimed expert.

LOL....The Dog Food Advisor is a human dentist. Why would you depend on a dentist to tell you what food is best for your dog :confused: That guy is a joke IMO

How about asking a Board Certified Vet Nutritionist for an opinion on dog food. That's an opinion that would be of more value VS The Dog Food Advisor. I have always found it confusing why he's thought of so highly when it comes to what to feed dogs. Maybe if he was telling visitors to his site to brush their dogs teeth

The fact that he's a human dentist doesn't really bother me... he could be a dentist and have an interest in dog food, no big deal. But a lot of people use his site as almost a dog food holy bible.... and when you don't have any credentials (if he was that interested in the well-being of our pets, he could go take a canine nutrition class at the least). I have no qualms about the site existing and it's a nice place to compile all the dog foods out there and browse but I do wish it contained more information, it's very cut & dry and dog food is not. It's alot more complicated than just reading ingredient labels and rating them. A lot of the 5 star foods I wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole.

If you look around on line there are a lot of people that find his site very biased. It makes you wonder what the true motivation is behind The Dog Food Advisor. I agree with the bolded statement above Brit.

Anyone ever listen to THIS? OMG this guy is amazing...he mentions his research team. Hmmm....headed by him? For $20 bucks/year he will give you a special list....and you only have 30 minutes to decide or the price goes up.
Yeah...he's in this just because he wants to help people and their pets. Pfffffft

Editor's Choice Dog Food Recommendations | Dog Food Advisor

And we all know Purina is 100% truthful and do what's best for pets.........should we bring up the chicken jerky....... Not that I'm standing up for BB.

Unless Purina sells raw I doubt they will do that at the end of the day I'm sure it has to do with money.

Of course he is :rolleyes:

My first response to DH last night when he sent this information to me was. Purina must feel threatened by BB if they are willing to spend so much time,energy and money to discredit a company that is so much smaller than they are.
The only problem that I have ever had with BB was feeding any of their canned foods to my pups. It was just to rich for their tummies. I went back to cooking and using BB kibble and everyone is doing well.

Watch this video for yourself and make your own decisions. And NO, the dog food advisor had nothing to do with this. It's online at youtube, I saw it a years ago before I ever heard of him.

Just want to say this:

Anyone who follows this guy needs to really listen to this high pressure sales pitch and question themselves again as to his motivation.

It spoke volumes to me. Anyone acting like a carnival barker which is what he reminded me of scares me.

I don't see any of the vets educated in the field of nutrition behaving this way. Sure they charge a fee for their consults but they have the credentials to prove that they really do understand animal nutrition. They don't have to advertise like he is....just very concerning to me that so many think he is an expert in what is good for our pets.