Rachael Ray’s Dog Food Brand Is Being Sued For A Dangerous Reason

You might think of a few things when you think of celebrity chef Rachael Ray. Dog food probably isn’t at the top of your list. But surprise! Ray has actually been selling her own line of pet food, called Rachael Ray Nutrish, since 2008 — and it’s pretty popular. However, while dogs seem to enjoy it, one man in New York feels as if there’s something very misleading about the brand, and is filing a $5 million class-action suit against it.

The man, named Markeith Parks, is going after Ainsworth Pet Nutrition, which is linked with the brand. He believes that the celebrity chef “aggressively advertises” that Rachael Ray Nutrish dog food is healthy by stating it’s “natural.” In Parks’s mind, the food is anything but. He believes the claims are misleading and wants other pet owners to know.

“The products contain the unnatural chemical glyphosate, a potent biocide and endocrine disruptor, with detrimental health effects that are still becoming known,” his documents claim, as per E! News. “Rachael Ray Nutrish knows and intends that when consumers see the product labels or advertisements promising the products are ‘natural,’ consumers will understand that to mean that, at the very least, that the products do not contain synthetic or potentially harmful chemicals.”

This news is a little horrifying, since all of us want to give our dogs (and cats, too!) nothing but the best.

The documents go on to state that the food was independently tested by a laboratory, which proved that the food contains glyphosate. Glyphosate is an herbicide that’s often used as a weed killer, which is horrifying. It isn’t revealed how much of it was found in the food, but it definitely raises a red flag.

J.M. Smucker Company bought Ainsworth Pet Nutrition just this year and released a statement saying that they’re sorry the lawsuit is in progress. “We would never use ingredients in our products that harm pets,” they wrote, per E! News. “The pesticide mentioned in the lawsuit, glyphosate, is commonly used by farmers but is obviously never added as an ingredient in our products. All our products meet or exceed federal food safety requirements.”

We’ll be keeping up with this lawsuit to see where it leads, since no one wants to risk hurting their furry companion.

The ASPCA has a list of all the foods you should avoid feeding your furry fried. This is the animal poison control helpline: (888) 426-4435.