Dos Toros Misleads Consumers on Animal Welfare, Lawsuit Says

(Bloomberg) -- Dos Toros, a Mexican restaurant chain based in New York City, is misleading consumers about the welfare of animals that end up in the food served at its restaurants, according to a lawsuit that’s seeking class-action status. 

Signs inside Dos Toros locations say the chain serves pork and chicken that’s “naturally and humanely raised,” but the company buys from industrial farms that keep livestock indoors for their entire lives, according to the lawsuit filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan. The animals are “routinely raised, fed, handled and slaughtered in inhumane, crowded and stressful conditions of confinement,” the filing says.  

Animal welfare is gaining more attention both among consumers and on Wall Street. Activist investor Carl Icahn is waging a high-profile proxy fight on pig welfare with McDonald’s Corp., while a recent ruling from the Securities and Exchange Commission directed Wendy’s Co. to offer up a shareholder proposal that, if approved, would force it to disclose information about the treatment of sows in its supply chain. Both of those disputes revolve around the use of gestation crates, which are cramped stalls used to house pregnant pigs. 

Dos Toros suppliers aren’t accused of using gestation crates. But the general conditions they provide aren’t consistent with the advertising claims, according to the lawsuit. 

‘Not Enough’

“Crate-free is simply not enough to support claims that pork is ‘naturally and humanely raised,’” said Jay Shooster, an attorney at Richman Law & Policy, the firm that is bringing the lawsuit. The conditions are “just not what consumers of ‘naturally and humanely raised’ pork think they’re getting.”

Dos Toros didn’t respond to requests for comment. The company has more than 20 locations in New York and Chicago.

With consumers increasingly willing to pay a premium for humanely raised pork and cage-free eggs, companies are marketing efforts to reduce animals’ suffering. The lawsuit argues that Dos Toros’ claims of humane treatment boost its sales and profit at the expense of competing restaurants. 

It identifies two Dos Toros suppliers. Clemens Food Group, referred to as “Clemens Farms” in the suit, is accused of raising pigs in crowded conditions indoors. The lawsuit says the company has been cited by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for questionable practices, including “egregious inhumane handling” in October 2018. The complaint also names chicken supplier Freebird, where it says government regulators documented improper slaughter, excessive bone fractures and suffocation.

Clemens and Freebird didn’t respond to requests for comment. Clemens’s website details hog-raising practices and says it only works with partners that are “deeply committed to animal care.” Freebird’s site says its “chickens have plenty of room to roam in comfortable barns where food and water are readily available.”

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