SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A dog owner has filed a lawsuit against a pet food company alleging thousands of dogs have been sickened or died from eating a brand of the company's dry dog food.
Pet owner Frank Lucido filed the suit on Feb. 5 in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California against Nestle Purina PetCare Company.
Lucido claims he fed his three dogs Beneful "kibble" style dog food, and within a short period of time, two were sick and one was dead.
The suit alleges the food contains propylene glycol, which it says is an animal toxin used in automobile antifreeze, and mycotoxins, a group of toxins produced by fungus that occurs in grains.
In the suit, Lucido alleges that in the past four years, there have been more than 3,000 complaints online about dogs becoming ill or dying after eating Beneful, having shown "consistent symptoms," including stomach and related internal bleeding, liver malfunction or failure, vomiting, diarrhea, dehydration, weight loss, seizures and kidney failure. The complaints about Beneful report symptoms that are consistent with mycotoxin poisoning, according to the suit.
Purina issued a statement saying "there are no quality issues with Beneful," and dog owners could continue feeding it to their dogs without any concern.
"Like other pet foods, Beneful is occasionally the subject of social media-driven misinformation," the company said in its statement. "On-line postings often contain false, unsupported and misleading allegations that cause undue concern and confusion for our Beneful customers."
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