Nestlé Purina Hit with Class Action Lawsuit Over ‘Noxious Odors’ from Denver Pet Food Facility

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A proposed class action lawsuit alleges Nestlé Purina Petcare Co.’s Denver pet food manufacturing facility releases “noxious odors” that physically invade and cause damage to surrounding residential properties.

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The plaintiffs behind the 15-page Nestlé Purina lawsuit live within one mile of the facility’s property boundary and allege the foul odors that emanate from the plant stem from the company’s unlawful failure to control emissions and prevent them from escaping into the surrounding air.

The proposed class action alleges Nestlé Purina has failed to install, maintain, operate, develop and/or implement adequate odor-mitigating strategies to prevent the foul smells from invading the homes and properties of nearby residents.

“Defendant’s failures to prevent noxious off-site odors include, but are not limited to: operating and maintaining inadequate systems for operating and maintaining a pet food cooking process that inadequately captures, controls, and/or mitigates odors; failing to adequately treat and filter the exhaust produced through its industrial operations prior to emitting it into the ambient air; failing to develop and/or implement an adequate odor prevention plan; and failing to utilize other odor prevention, elimination, and mitigation measures and technology available to Defendant.”

According to the complaint, Nestlé Purina’s manufacturing process involves the mixing of raw ingredients, which are dried and formed into a dough before then being cooked and extruded into a kibble shape. From there, the pet foods undergo a drying process before being packaged and sold, the suit says. 

Overall, Nestlé Purina’s pet food cooking processes produce “highly odiferous emissions,” the case relays. The filing argues that a properly designed, operated and maintained pet food manufacturing plant would be able to adequately prevent the emission of noxious odors into the ambient air as “fugitive emissions.”

The odors wafting from the Denver Nestlé Purina facility have been the subject of voluminous complaints from nearby residents, many of whom have filed official complaints about the smells with the Colorado Department of Health and Environment (CDHE), the lawsuit states.

The complaint shares that more than 50 households within the area have contacted the plaintiffs’ lawyers about the odors they attributed to the Nestlé Purina facility.

“Plaintiffs and members of the putative class suffer serious discomfort because of Defendant’s noxious odors that interfere with their use and enjoyment of property,” the case says, contending that the odors from the plant would be offensive to any reasonable person of ordinary health and sensibilities.

The case accuses Nestlé Purina of negligently and knowingly failing to control the noxious odors emanating from its Denver plant and highlights that proposed class members have suffered diminished property values and the loss of use and enjoyment of their properties.

The Nestlé Purina lawsuit looks to cover all owners/occupants and renters of residential property within one mile of the Denver facility’s property boundary.

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