Wise Food suit

I'm not a fan of Wise, but I do have some. This is an interesting tid bit.

A class action lawsuit against Wise Company, a survival and emergency food storage company, was filed on February 15, 2017 for “unlawful, unfair, and deceptive advertising and business practices.” Last year, the company agreed to settle the suit, and is expected to announce the settlement on its website by the end of business today.

The class action, known as Miller v. Wise Company Inc., U.S. District Court, Central District of California, Case No. 5:17-cv-00616-JAK-PLA, alleges that on its website and packaging, Wise made misrepresentations and omitted material information about how long its Long-Term Food Kits would last and how many people they would feed. Customers who brought the case (the “Plaintiffs”) allege that as a result, “customers were induced to pay more for those products than they otherwise would have.”

The Daily Sheeple can report that, not only did Wise Company allegedly mislead consumers about the nutritional content of their products, it appears that the company handed over highly confidential consumer data to the government – not once, but twice – during the proceedings.

The following phrases were all used in describing the complaint:

False and misleading advertising

Deceptive acts and practices

Likely to deceive members of the general public

HERE ARE THE LAWSUIT’S CLAIMS, DIRECTLY FROM THE COURT DOCUMENTS:

Wise Company fails to disclose that if the consumer in fact eats the number of prescribed servings each day necessary to make the food kits last for the advertised period of time, the consumer will effectively starve or suffer adverse health effects given that the food kits provide drastically fewer calories and nutrients than are needed to adequately sustain adults for the advertised periods of time.

Wise Company’s long-term and emergency food kits provide less than half the daily calories necessary for an average adult to survive.

Consequently, a person who credits Wise Company’s representations and attempts to survive on one of its “Long-Term Food Kits” for the specified period of time faces serious physical and mental health risks, including dehydration, hypothermia, hypotension, impaired renal and liver function, depression, and impaired cognition.

Some of the kits sold have an average as low as only 453 calories per day, a paltry amount of food by any measure, and certainly not enough to sustain an individual in the kind of emergency situation for which Wise Company foods are marketed.

In fact, prisoners in Auschwitz were provided more calories than Wise food storage has consistently given their customers.

WISE COMPANY TURNED CUSTOMER DATA OVER TO THE COURT DURING THE CASE’S PROCEEDINGS

Perhaps worse than the alleged deception regarding the nutritional content of the food is the appearance that proprietary, highly confidential customer sales data has been disclosed in the case. As many as 99,405 purchase records have already been handed over to the government.

Wise insists they have done nothing wrong, however have agreed to settle this claim, turning over their customer information as a result.

Wise claims that because customers have likely not actually had to depend on the food no damages can be claimed in their official respones:

“Wise expects discovery will show that Plaintiffs have not actually consumed any of the products they purchased and, therefore, have suffered no injury in fact whatsoever, but instead merely exchanged one form of property (money) for another (food).”

Wise has produced about 13,000 pages of documents as well as summary sales information (which it has designated confidential) showing the number of individuals who purchased each of the Long-Term Food Kits, the purchase channel (Wise Website, over the phone, through a third party, etc.), the number of products sold, and the price of the products during the relevant years.

While documents submitted during the Discovery phase of the proceedings designated their customer list as confidential, this only prevents members of the general public from accessing it under Freedom of Information – the government still has it.

Members of the class on average are eligible for a refund of $15-$1,400 per eligible product purchased during the class period.

The class website is up and running and can be viewed here: Miller v. Wise Company Inc. Settlement Website

WISE foods will pay $110,000 to the Settlement Administrator, almost $600,000 in attorney’s fees for Plaintiff, and the company’s own attorney’s fees.

If all members of the class request their refund, total liability to Wise is well over $2,000,000 – money that they will ultimately recoup from their customers – the very people whose trust they were alleged to have violated in the first place.

This isn’t the first time Wise food storage has had trouble – a shocking report from 2015 claimed that at that time, Wise foods weren’t being packaged in a manner consistent with long term food storage.

AS OF NOW, WISE IS NOT CHANGING THEIR PRODUCTS OR THEIR ADVERTISING PRACTICES

As part of the settlement agreement, Wise has been allowed to NOT change their advertising practices until they sell all of their existing inventory. We have been told by a Wise ex-employee familiar with the case that Wise has purchased large amounts of food inventory to allow them to “milk it as long as possible.”

As of the time of this story Wise Company is still selling kits by time frame that have unsafe levels of calories.

WISE FOODS CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT – REFERENCE DOCUMENTS:

PLAINTIFFS’ MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF UNOPPOSED MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY APPROVAL

DECLARATION OF NANCE F. BECKER IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS’ UNOPPOSED MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY APPROVAL

[PROPOSED] PRELIMINARY APPROVAL ORDER

SUPPLEMENTAL DECLARATION OF NANCE F. BECKER IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS’ UNOPPOSED MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY APPROVAL

ORDER RE MOTION FOR CLASS CERTIFICATION (DKT. 24) AND MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY APPROVAL OF CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT

ORDER GRANTING EXTENSION OF DEADLINES AND RESCHEDULING HEARING DATE: “Defendant shall provide the Eligible Product purchase history of each of its Known Customers”

SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT

CLASS ACTION COMPLAINT FOR DAMAGES, RESTITUTION, DECLARATORY AND INJUNCTIVE RELIEF

DECLARATION OF SCOTT WHITING IN SUPPORT OF NOTICE OF REMOVAL OF ACTION FROM STATE COURT BY DEFENDANT WISE COMPANY, INC.

DECLARATION OF MARK FALKENHAGEN IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR CLASS CERTIFICATION



Delivered by The Daily Sheeple

 

Thanks for posting this - first I'd seen this.

I rag on WISE on a couple of other sites, they are a classic Utah-fraud fraud operation....

 

This suit was a long time coming and almost every food company that advertises products quoting "servings", number of people they will feed and for how long are at risk for a similar suit. It's the packaging then number and quality of calories that determine the value of long term food products. Anything else is just advertising spin and usually false.

 

I have some of those buckets. But I never thought I would 100% live on the contents of the bucket for 2 weeks or 30 days (depending on bucket). I did not buy my buckets directly from Wise but from a 3rd party.

Californians only? If it applies to everyone I would fine a claim.

This bothers me more:

 

What I got from another source is that Wise uses a thin mylar which will allow air to enter after a fairly short time. You might get 5-8 years out of them if stored properly.

 

Most of my Wise is in buckets. But it makes me wonder. Grrr... you put faith and money in a product and it may not last. I wonder if I should double the mylar? I have a bunch of small bags. I would like this food to last.

 

I've looked into the WISE operation. For a long time I owned property in Utah, but sold it all last year.

Their "food" (these guys caused my to coin the term Chow for this stuff) is dry ingredients (mainy from China) dumped into what looks alike a big SS cement mixer drum, where it is mixed, then packaged. Meat is TVP.

Their primary victim group is, talking from experience, young Mormons who want to have a deep pantry, but lack the $$ - and frankly the experience - to put put that pantry together together for their new or growing family....

Reading the label closely tells the tale.

There is an *epic* 60 page thread over here (Wise Foods vs Mountain House Smack Down - Survivalist Forum) where WISE gets called on all of this. The lawsuit is just icing as they say, on the cake.

For anyone that has done any deep Due Diligence, WISE should have been off the list in short order. They came into being to take advantage of Mt House shortfalls in open production a few years back. The lawsuit would indicate a lot of folks got screwed.

Well, except for the reseller crowd - they made a 12% commission on each sale...

There are too many legit providers (Mt House, Rainy Day Foods, etc) that been around for decades selling quality products to mess with the likes of WISE.
.

 

Also - it isn't just WISE foods, it's Bucket Chow in general

Augason Farms 30 day bucket trial. - Survivalist Forum

this links to a thread where a fellow actually went to use his Bucket Chow. In less than a week he quit on advice of his Doctor.....this was a young man.

His plan:
My meals will be made up of the following.
Instant Potatoes (30 servings)
Macaroni & Cheese (30 servings)
Creamy Potato Soup (30 servings)
Cheesy Broccoli Rice (30 servings)
Creamy Chicken Rice (30 servings)
Hearty Vegetable Blend (30 servings)
Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal (40 servings)
Morning Moo’s Low Fat Milk Alternative (80 servings)

I am also adding to this 10 items that you will more then likley fin d in every home in america. These are to make my life a little easier but not make my life a living hell.
The 10 items are. 1 box teabags,
1 x pack Stevia packets (sweetener)
1 x box non dairy powdered creamer.
1 x pack animal crackers.
2 x bag jolly ranchers candy.
2 x bags of jerky.
1 x 2 liter bottle of coke
1 x can of Orange tang
Spice and suace packets (instead of 1 x 5lb bag of rice.)

I will be documenting , My weight each day (the planed meals are only 1850 calories) i am expecting some weight loss, I will be documenting the taste and look of the food and generally how i feel after eating.

A very revealing read and one I often quote....

 

About those labels:

Have you looked at the ingredients of the 'food' you have been eating?

Lets look at just the creamy (Cheesy Broccoli Soup Mix) soup... ('Soups' and oatmeal seems to be a primary parts of Bucket Chow)

NET WT. 13 OZ (368 g)
09002ED-1011
INGREDIENTS:
Creamer (maltodextrin, palm oil),

cheese base (whey, buttermilk solids, cheeses [granular and cheddar {pasteurized milk, cheese culture, salt, enzymes}], whey protein concentrate, salt, sodium phosphate, citric acid, FD&C Yellow #5, FD&C Yellow #6, lactic acid, enzyme) ((Yes this is a single item list),

modified food starch, (why the soup 'thickens')
broccoli,

chicken soup base (corn syrup solids, salt, corn starch, hydrolyzed corn, soy protein, rendered chicken fat, sugar, onion powder, disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate, spices, turmeric, dehydrated parsley, silicon dioxide),

maltodextrin,
chopped onion,
celery,
salt,
yeast extract, (often used instead of MSG, with all the same issues)
onion powder,
parsley flakes,
sweet whey.

Primary ingredient? Cheap coffee creamer. Dry soup base, cheese powder and bits of veggies. And some stuff I can't even pronounce. Oh and lots of sodium and potassium - too much, actually.

That "milk" drink (Morning Moo) alone is mostly cheap (and I would bet made in China) coffee creamer. With some whey - a leftover from making cheese. ugh.

*******
Non-fat Dry Milk has done a lot of excellent 'reporting' on related issues w/dry milk..
*******

BTW
Dry Whole Milk Powder
Ounces per Cup= 4.5
Cups per Pound= 3.56

Dry Non-Fat Milk Powder
Ounces per Cup= 4.25
Cups per Pound= 3.76

Milk, Non-fat, Powdered
Ounces per Cup= 5.45
Cups per Pound= 2.9

*****

A 55 pound bag of DARIGOLD DRY NON-FAT MILK is $247.00 here in Alaska. That's over 65 gallon of milk, about $3.80 a gallon.

You can do better for storage foods, much better.
All it takes is some of your time....

 

I only purchase Mountain House and actually eat them sometimes when the wife is away rather than trust my own toxic cooking. Hell, I like their 'Biscuits and Gravy' on eggs. A 30-day trial of it would be interesting...need to think about this a bit more...

 

If a person eats nothing but Freeze dry food, they will lose weight - OFD provides a lot of product to the "diet industry".

I've put myself on a low carb diet for the last 67 days - and have lost 50 pounds. There is a reason Marie lost those 50 pounds....

 

Wise claims that because customers have likely not actually had to depend on the food no damages can be claimed in their official respones:

So you bought food insurance, BUT since you haven't actually had to use it, you are not harmed.

Like I sold you a fire extinguisher I KNEW wouldn't work, but since you never had a fire, you are not harmed.....or a dozen other similar things.

In what world where I exchanged currency for your representations, and they turn out to be false, is that not fraud ??

 

The only kind of "survival food" that I have in my go bag is a three First Strike" MRE packs, and those are rotated every six months.

As for long term food stuffs, you can do much better and cheaper buy buying what is available at your local grocery. Spam does not have an experation date. There at are quite a few other basic food staples that can last for years if stored properly.

 

Putting together your own long term storage program only needs some common sense and proper storage containers.

 

Says an awful lot about the company, their owners and the sleazeballs that represent them.....

 

My Spam does have a 'Best By' date but doesn't show an expiration date...interesting as I didn't know this.

 

SPAM doesn't an expiry date. Even the FedGov agrees. This does not mean that SAPM lasts forever...far from it. Still, good shelf - for SPAM

 

I buy the thrive food exclusively now for my long term stuff. In the beginning I bought some mountain house meals but then switched to thrive. I buy a bit of everything from meats and veggies to milk and cheese. I get rice at sams club and put that in buckets myself. We actually use the freeze dried stuff occasionally in our normal meals to make sure we are good at using it.

 

I eat very little red meat, a little chicken and fish, had a pancreatic problem a few years ago, not good when they call in wife and ask about next of kin to notify, but it came out ok. Long story short, it doesn't do something right to digest fats. A good double cheese burger with bacon would put me in the john for the rest of the day. What I learned is that to digest your food, your body has to produce everything from starting to break it down as you chew, to removing the water before you get rid of it, and at least my body and the bugs in my gut that help digest it do not like change. In my humble opinion, there is no survival food out there other than that you eat every day that would allow you to survive thru a high stress, high activity period, with out major digestive problems and energy problems. My wife is a picky eater and has had multiple bypass open heart surgery and I know that she would have a very hard time with both the salt in most of the bucket kits and she just will not eat some of them because she "hates" the taste and I find them very low in calories. That said I find that we like to use onion soup packages to make potato corn chowder, veggie soup mix added to our veggie soups, Knorr's leak soup mix with potatoes, etc. We eat oatmeal every morning, a little apple sauce, some raisins, some nuts, cinimin, etc, change the taste and make it very good. With a few spices and some veggies, fresh or dried, there are dozens of ways of making lentils that we both like and don't bother our digestion. About 1/3 of what we eat now as a matter of course would be considered long term storage food. Corn bread, lentils, veggie patties, oat meal, farina, cous cous, bean soup, veggie chili, etc, and changing to long term with the addition of greenhouse and garden plus canned is possible for everything but fats and oils, that is our big weakness. The freeze dried, dried foods, pouch mixes, etc, may not keep you alive, but they sure do help prevent diet fatigue. I can't eat boiled beans every day, but baked beans with a little molassas, bean soup, chili, refried beans, etc, sneak the beans into my diet quite well and I can digest them as well. Good cheap food now and it stores very well. YMMV