# Natura foods - Innova, Evo, Cal Naturals lawsuit



## Sibe (Nov 21, 2010)

"A federal judge has entered an order for preliminary approval of class action lawsuit against Natura Pet Foods (Innova, Evo, California Natural, HealthWise, Mother Nature, and Karma). The suit will award any U.S. pet parent that purchased a Natura product(s) from March 20, 2005 through July 8, 2011 two hundred dollars; the suit claims Natura made false and misleading statements about the human grade quality of its food."

"If you'd like to file for your $200 (were a Natura pet food purchaser from March 20, 2005 to July 8, 2011), click here to visit the pet product settlement website."

http://www.truthaboutpetfood.com/articles/did-you-purchase-a-natura-pet-food.html



Also, Innova has Menadione in it now. Not sure about the others. http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=menadione


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## jkliveng (Jul 7, 2011)

We first fed that when we got our pup, it's what they were given at the rescue place, wonder how claims work and how many people will file for one.


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## luvntzus (Mar 16, 2007)

That makes me really mad. And they claim to have the "healthiest pet food in the world". I did feed EVO during that time period, but don't have any receipts. I would imagine you would have to have some sort of proof. Thankfully I rotate food and only fed maybe 3 bags of it during that time period. So this and now the menadionine. I will never recommend Natura food again!

Edit- I read the details of the settlement and at the top it says something about being for northern California only. But I just checked my e-mail and I did get a notice with a claim number and password to enter online.

I wonder how it was found that they made false claims and didn't use human grade food.


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## Porphyria (Jul 18, 2011)

luvntzus said:


> That makes me really mad. And they claim to have the "healthiest pet food in the world". I did feed EVO during that time period, but don't have any receipts. I would imagine you would have to have some sort of proof. Thankfully I rotate food and only fed maybe 3 bags of it during that time period. So this and now the menadionine. I will never recommend Natura food again!


You don't need to have receipts, you just need to check a box saying that you swear, under penalty of perjury, that you bought Natura products during that timeframe.

I don't remember the exact date when I was feeding Innova, but I know it was in 2009. However I only purchased two small bags of.Innova puppy so I don't think I'll file.


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## Jenn~n~Luke (Aug 20, 2010)

Well this is just lovely. Now what am I going to feed Luke? We'll have to try orijjen and hope that works. Crap. Thanks for the head's up though!


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## xxxxdogdragoness (Jul 22, 2010)

I hope this lawsuit deal makes them pull that darned ad "we make innova the way you'd make it..." *rolls eyes*. If they keep going down the toilet, at this rate, there will no nothing left to feed


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## Sibe (Nov 21, 2010)

I hate that the companies we think are at least decent keep disappointing us and using questionable ingredients. Sigh.

I fed TOTW and Orijen before going to raw. Not that I was planning on going back to kibble anyways, but with everything that keeps happening in the kibble world I'm even more convinced that raw is the place to be.


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## xxxxdogdragoness (Jul 22, 2010)

I wish I could do raw but I dont think that I have hr experience or the knowledge to feed raw. Why can't they just make it right!


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## InkedMarie (Mar 11, 2009)

I haven't fed any of their foods for quite a few years but I sent that link to my son & his wife, they tried Healthwise for awhile.
I have one on The Honest Kitchen for both meals, the two girls eat THK for breakfast and Nature's Variety Prairie for dinner.


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## ioreks_mom (Oct 1, 2008)

i used to feed evo to my cats and ferrets. when i moved back home to newfoundland i wasn't able to get it here so i switched to go! for my cats and ferrets. then they sold out so i was super happy i wasn't feeding evo anymore anyway. thankfully i feed my dogs raw. (i would feed everyone raw if i could get them to eat it!)


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

As I understand it, there was nothing actually wrong with the food at that time, it's just that California's laws don't allow pet food companies to say that they use human-grade ingredients if it contains a "meal" (chicken meal, turkey meal, etc.), because meals are not approved for human consumption. 

If you read other pet food websites, you can see they avoid saying that now. . .Canidae's website says about their foods: "The nutritionally dense fresh meats and meals we use originate from USDA inspected meats processed in a human grade facility. Our high quality grains, vegetables and fruits are from human grade producers". So you notice they very carefully do not say that their food is human grade, only that it's produced in a human grade facility. Legally, wording is tricky; saying it wrong can get you sued.

I hate class-action lawsuits, but since Natura already coughed up the $$, I'd put in for my share. The unclaimed money probably just goes to the lawyers .


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## flipgirl (Oct 5, 2007)

Interesting. I think that while this is illegal in California, does human grade MEAT really make it into pet food? Most likely, pet food contains the parts of the animal that are human grade but not meant for human consumption. But Natura should have worded their advertising better. Meal is not much different. So, I think that many are misled into thinking that pet food is human grade. 

Does this lawsuit apply to those in Canada? I have noticed some stores discontinuing innova. I fed it for a while vecause it was advertised that it was baked at low temperatures. Maybe that was wrong too.


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

The stores are probably discontinuing Innova because of the P&G buyout. There are a lot of people who don't trust P&G, and yup, they've already changed the ingredients.


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## Mora (Aug 12, 2011)

Wow. Okay. I made an account just to reply to this dead thread, because this is something that I really think needs to be responded to and for some reason, Your Local Pet Food Guy has dropped the ball. Everywhere.

I've been working at various neighborhood pet shops for four years. The first place I worked was a pretty big local chain (~15 stores) and since then I've been in mom-and-pop shops. I'm obsessive about nutrition. The aforementioned local chain had one of the best training and education programs I've ever heard of, and in addition to an extensive knowledge of dog and cat nutrition, pet food manufacturing processes and labeling regulations, we were also taught a healthy sense of skepticism. That is, regarding the claims we heard from other companies. Especially dry food manufacturers. It took a lot to get us to agree to carry a product. In addition to letting us tour your facilities to any extent we might desire, you had to answer about a billion detailed questions regarding the necessity and the source of every ingredient in every formula that wound up in our store. And, based on your answers, we'd often choose to carry just one formula out of your entire line, because only it met our standards.

I am not worried about Innova.

That said, raw is absolutely the place to be. Most pets should be eating mostly raw diets. But most pet owners think we're crazy for saying so, and many others can't afford a raw diet anyway. That's out of our control.

But we should absolutely encourage them to feed dry foods that they can trust, and all of this hatred directed at Natura/Innova over the past couple of years has been totally misplaced. Yes, they sold to P&G, and we would all have preferred it if they'd just rocketed themselves into the sun, instead. But all that's really changed in terms of the way the company is run is the destination of any profits. The same top-level executives are making the same pet food with the addition of a couple of awesome grain-free formulas under California Natural that I couldn't be more grateful for. Seriously. When the closest to an allergy diet they ever got was the CalNat Herring and Sweet Potato (and oatmeal and barley), Natural Balance was the only practical option for an elimination kibble. Now, at least half the time, we can open the elimination process with CalNat, which actually contains more meat than carb. I am much relieved. Course, Addiction works too, but price becomes even more of an issue.

So, yeah. The buyout doesn't seem to have had much of an effect on Innova/Natura's products. And considering that most of the other "premium" kibble brands were _already_ corporate and gross _in the first place_, I'm satisfied with a product selling out and then _not_ getting run into the ground.

So on to this lawsuit. It's not just Innova. They're the ones getting all the bad press, because they were the named defendant, but the lawsuit covered Natura Et Al, and a number of other brands are being sued as well. What's at issue: whether the term "human-grade" is legal for use on a bag of pet food. NOT whether the ingredients were suitable for human consumption when they went into the food. They were. Innova, Wellness, Merrick, a number of companies have said that they used human-quality ingredients, meaning that the ingredients were legally fit to be sold for use in food, when the pet food company bought them. But it's illegal to put "human-grade" on a bag of pet food because, having been turned into pet food, they are no longer legally fit for human consumption. That's why these companies got sued. Because you can't call your dog food human-grade. That's all. It's ridiculous. Next thing you know, somebody's going to sue Paws Gourmet for making their dog cookies look too much like regular cookies. False and misleading presentation.

So it's still the same old Innova in your dog's bowl. And it still sucks that they got bought out by a big corporation. But look at the state of the premium food industry. Switch to Orijen? It just went up to about $70 for a 29.7# bag (gotta have that third of a pound). Solid Gold? Same problem. Wellness is part of a conglomeration now, and Eagle Pack is the other half. The founder of BLUE was the guy who sold SoBE to Pepsico. Merrick puts Biblical quotes on the package, which I guess isn't such a bad thing, but it just feels like I'm buying a product that thinks it's Holier Than Thou. Breeder's Choice products are okay, but they're pretty carby most of the time. I guess there's Canidae.

Yum. Canidae.

Even the raw industry has some issues like that. Nature's Variety, the major offering in that category, is a relatively huge company. But they do make an okay product. And, yes, most of us feed more local raw brands of a much higher quality, but again, most people won't or can't afford to.

So don't be too put off by Innova. They have yet to drop from the Pretty Good As Far As Kibble Goes category, and they remain dead last on my list of Brands Most Likely To Inadvertently Screw Up Your Dog. They may yet pull it off, but so far, the product's no better or worse than it's ever been.


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## Sibe (Nov 21, 2010)

Innova isn't something I'd feed anyway because it has grain. I put Evo and Cal Nat in the title of this thread, it's all of Natura not just Innova. They ARE changing the food. They've added the synthetic vitamin K, which it potentially very harmful. As previously said, I don't know how much they added or how much it takes to be harmful. But I still don't like it. It's not the same old Innova. I've never fed Natura foods so I can't compare anything else. But I don't really trust any pet food that's made by the people that specialize in making pharmaceuticals or candy or whatever. Personally I fed TOTW and Orijen before going raw.

Feeding premade raw will cost an arm and a leg and probably your first born child as well. And it will contain things your dog doesn't need, like fruits and veggies. Whole prey model is pretty darn cheap. Where I am, I get whole chickens for $0.70/lb. Beef hearts for $1/lb. Liver and kidney for $1/lb. Pork shoulder for $1.50/lb. It's not that expensive unless you're buying prime cut meat for your dog.


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## dmickle1 (Jun 19, 2011)

Glad the thread was revived... My dad fed Innova for quite a long time and will be filing a claim to receive the $200 award he is due.


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## zeronightfarm (Jun 15, 2011)

dmickle1 said:


> Glad the thread was revived... My dad fed Innova for quite a long time and will be filing a claim to receive the $200 award he is due.


yeah I fed innova before switching to TOTW. I filed my claim, so when do I get my money? I can't help but get the feeling that this is a scam?


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## Kibasdad (Jan 1, 2009)

zeronightfarm said:


> yeah I fed innova before switching to TOTW. I filed my claim, so when do I get my money? I can't help but get the feeling that this is a scam?


Not until May 2012 at the earliest.

Also, it's not guaranteed to be $200 
Depends on how many people file a claim.


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## KuroSaya (Jun 3, 2011)

Sibe said:


> Feeding premade raw will cost an arm and a leg and probably your first born child as well. And it will contain things your dog doesn't need, like fruits and veggies. Whole prey model is pretty darn cheap. Where I am, I get whole chickens for $0.70/lb. Beef hearts for $1/lb. Liver and kidney for $1/lb. Pork shoulder for $1.50/lb. It's not that expensive unless you're buying prime cut meat for your dog.


I agree pre made raw is very expensive especially if you have a big dog or more dogs than one.

I get local grass fed/free ranged meats for good price and good store brand meats too.. 2$lb for heart,tongue, liver, kidney and $4 lb for ground lamb forgot price on the pork ribs and bison roast, but it still was decent deal. Coarse grass fed and free ranged is higher priced. 

I also get food from grocery, butcher and meat processor. 

If raw didn't work I'd be home cooking for Saya. 

I'm not anti kibble, but I feel fresh food is the way to go. 

I liked EVO and natura food, but after buy out I don't plan buying the kibble again. They may promise to keep it the same, but I don't trust the company.

I'll stick with rotating wellness core ocean, ToTW lamb, ToTW deer/bison kibble for Bella my parent's dog plus she gets caned dog food, caned fish, eggs, cooked meat, cooked liver, raw meals for variety each week.


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## Tofu_pup (Dec 8, 2008)

So you don't have to be in California to file?


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## StephanieNatura (Aug 15, 2011)

Hi! I’m Stephanie with Natura’s Communication Team. I want to assure you that no Natura formulas have changed, including those found in Innova. In addition, no Innova formulas contain Vitamin K3, also known as Menadione. Menadione is only found in one single dry Natura product – EVO Herring and Salmon Cat & Kitten. The reason for Menadione’s presence in that formula is that the AAFCO requires the use of Menadione in any cat product containing greater than 25% fish on a dry matter base. If you have any questions, feel free to call 800.532.7261 between 8 a.m and 5:30 p.m. CST Monday-Friday or email [email protected]. Thanks!


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