Blue Buffalo files counterclaims against Purina

Blue Buffalo issued a letter to its customers on its website on May 19, 2015, regarding its ongoing battle with Nestle Purina over the labeling of ingredients in its products.
“Given all the misinformation out there, we would like to give you a quick update on the legal front. As we had informed you on May 9th, today we formally brought claims of breach of contract, fraud and unjust enrichment against the parties responsible for the intentional mislabeling of certain ingredients that were shipped to us and other well-known pet food brands through May 2014,” the statement said. “Separately, we informed the court in the case involving consumers’ claims in this matter that we would also name the same parties as defendants in that case, so they can be held fully accountable for their actions.”
Blue Buffalo’s amended answer to Purina’s lawsuit includes counterclaims against Purina and its public relations agencies and new claims against the suppliers of mislabeled ingredients.
“We encourage all of you who are interested to read our lawsuit and learn more about Nestlé Purina’s smear campaign attacking our integrity, and the supplier fraud that impacted the industry until May of last year,” the statement said.
On May 6, 2014, Purina filed a lawsuit against Blue Buffalo for false advertising after testing revealed the presence of poultry byproduct meal in some of Blue Buffalo’s top-selling pet foods. On May 6, 2015, Blue Buffalo acknowledged in court that a “substantial” and “material” portion of Blue Buffalo pet food sold to consumers contained poultry byproduct meal, despite advertising claims to the contrary.