What is Ingredient Splitting? | Deceptive Marketing Lawsuits
The class action consumer protection lawyers at The Lyon Firm are investigating a wide range of false advertising and deceptive marketing claims. Our legal team is assessing the legality of one misleading sales tactic called ingredient splitting, a common practice in the pet food industry. Contact our attorneys to learn more about your consumer rights and to discuss filing potential deceptive marketing lawsuits.
What is Ingredient Splitting?
Ingredient splitting is exactly what it sounds like: the companies split up inferior, or lesser-quality ingredients to make it appear that there is more quantity of the more sought-after ingredients. Most commonly, to make it look like there is more meat in a pet food, a company may split up several grains and pulp to make the meat the first ingredient. That way the manufacturers can say the “#1 ingredient” is a source of protein, but in reality there are more grains than anything else.
For example, in commonly used ingredient splitting practices, beef will be listed as the featured protein base ingredient, but there will be a lot less beef than cheap grains. A list of the ingredients may look like the following: beef, whole grain corn, corn meal, meat by-product, brewers rice, beet pulp, soy flour, corn gluten. There are hundreds of variations on this, but cheap ingredients like peas, rice, corn, soy, potatoes and other grains show up on pet food lists in large quantities, only they are split up in small proportions.
Many consumers have voiced complaints over this misleading marketing practice, used regularly by pet food manufacturers. Dogs and cats thrive on protein-based diets and many companies are misleading consumers with the content of their products. Some dog foods that are labeled as a meat entree may only contain 10 percent of the primary protein indicated. The rest will be cheap fillers.
Other Deceptive Pet Food Marketing Tactics
Aside from ingredient splitting, there are a number of other questionable sales tactics that have been described by consumers as misleading, deceptive and false advertising. Some pet foods are called “premium” or “gourmet,” and are in turn sold for a premium price, but contain the exact same ingredients as the other brands. “Premium” is a totally unregulated term in feed law. Whereas premium gasoline needs to meet higher octane standards than regular gasoline, premium pet food doesn’t have special requirements that differ from other cheaper pet foods. Other cat and dog foods have been labeled as organic and natural but contain dubious preservatives.
How is any of this legal? Well, there is not a lot of oversight. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates both finished pet food products and their ingredients, but does not monitor the marketing throughout the industry. The FDA regulations require “proper identification of the product, net quantity statement, name, and place of business of the manufacturer or distributor, and proper listing of all the ingredients in the product from most to least, based on weight.”
The Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO), rather, is more engaged as an independent organization that guides state and federal feed regulators with ingredient definitions, labels and laboratory standards.
Contact our attorneys regarding ongoing class action false advertising lawsuits or filing a deceptive marketing claim due to ingredient splitting or another misleading sales tactic. Our legal team offers free consultations to clients in all fifty states.