June 9, 2015
Paolo Barilla
Vice Chair and Vice President
Barilla G. e R. Fratelli S.p.A.
Via Mantova 166
43122 Parma
Italy
Via e-mail: p.barilla@barilla.it
Dear Mr. Barilla,
Thank you in advance for your time. On behalf of People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals (PETA) and our more than 3 million members and
supporters worldwide, I'm writing to ask the Barilla Group to join other
industry leaders in implementing a policy that prohibits conducting,
funding, and commissioning experiments on animals.
PETA was troubled to discover articles reporting that Barilla recently
conducted and/or funded experiments in which dozens of rats were isolated in
small cages and force-fed food additives and fatty acids in order to evaluate
potential health claims about wheat.1,2,3 At the end of these experiments, the
rats were killed and had their livers removed, frozen, and then dissected. Also
troubling is that the reports call for even more such experiments, which are of
questionable relevance to humans, at best.
Given the size of your company, we can imagine that you were probably not
aware of these cruel and archaic experiments. PETA is concerned that they
have continued, despite the availability of superior non-animal research
methods that are directly relevant to humans and despite the absence of any
regulations that require experiments on animals to support health claims. We're
confident that your customers around the world—including many PETA
supporters—would be surprised and dismayed to learn about this situation as
well.
We've worked with major food and beverage companies to end experiments on
animals and replace them with humane, effective, and economical animal-free
methods, including in vitro, computational, clinical, and other types of modern
technology.
1

Ounnas F et al. 2014. Wheat aleurone polyphenols increase plasma eicosapentaenoic acid in rats.
Food & Nutrition Research 58: 24604.
2
Ounnas F et al. 2015 Mar 26. Wheat aleurone fractions and plasma n-3 fatty acids in rats.
International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition: 1–4.
doi:10.3109/09637486.2015.1024206.
3
Calani L et al. 2014. Bioavailability and metabolism of hydroxycinnamates in rats fed with
durum wheat aleurone fractions. Food & Function 5: 1738–1746. doi: 10.1039/C4FO00328D.

 We hope Barilla will join The Coca-Cola Company, Lipton, POM
Wonderful LLC, Welch's, Ocean Spray, and other progressive companies
that have established policies against funding, conducting, and
commissioning experiments on animals.
May I please hear from you on this important matter? I can be contacted at 646344-0205 or MichaelN@peta.org.
Sincerely,
Michael Niebo
Research Associate
Laboratory Investigations Department
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
501 Front St.
Norfolk, VA 23510
cc:

Claudio Colzani, CEO, The Barilla Group