Hill’s Pet Nutrition would like to clarify that a single can date code within an already recalled case of dog food was inadvertently omitted from our recall list. This relates to the same vitamin premix that led to the January 31, 2019 voluntary recall. The vast majority of the product was distributed in October and November 2018, the cans were in cases that were recalled in January 2019.
What are the Symptoms of Vitamin D Toxicity?
Excess vitamin D in the diet can cause vomiting, loss of appetite, increased thirst, increased urination, excessive drooling and weight loss. Vitamin D at toxic levels can cause kidney failure and death. Pet owners whose dogs have been eating the recalled brands and are showing these symptoms should contact their veterinarians.
For more information, please see Vitamin Toxicity in Dogs.
On January 31, 2019, Hill’s Pet Nutrition notified the FDA about a report of vitamin D toxicity in a dog that ate a canned Hill’s dog food and initiated a recall of 25 products. On March 20, 2019, Hill’s expanded the recall to include 19 additional products of canned dog food. The recall is only for canned dog food and does not affect canned cat food, dry food (kibble), or treats.
The list of recalled dry dog food products provided to the FDA on January 31, 2019 includes:
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T10
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T25
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T04
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T10
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T19
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T20
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T11
- Lot Code/Date Code: 112020T23
- Lot Code/Date Code: 122020T07
- Lot Code/Date Code: 092020T30
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T07
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T11
- Lot Code/Date Code: 112020T22
- Lot Code/Date Code: 112020T23
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T17
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T19
- Lot Code/Date Code: 112020T04
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T17
- Lot Code/Date Code: 112020T22
- Lot Code/Date Code: 112020T19
- Lot Code/Date Code: 112020T20
- Lot Code/Date Code: 112020T20
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T10
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T11
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T04
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T21
- Lot Code/Date Code: 092020T30
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T11
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T12
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T04
- Lot Code/Date Code: 112020T22
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T05
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T26
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T05
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T18
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T12
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T13
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T14
- Lot Code/Date Code: 112020T23
- Lot Code/Date Code: 112020T24
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T06
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T13
- Lot Code/Date Code: 112020T19
- Lot Code/Date Code: 092020T31
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T13
- Lot Code/Date Code: 092020T31
- Lot Code/Date Code: 112020T20
- Lot Code/Date Code: 112020T24
- Lot Code/Date Code: 112020T19
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T14
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T21
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T04
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T05
- Lot Code/Date Code: 112020T11
The list of additional canned dog food products provided to the FDA on March 20, 2019 as part of an expanded recall includes:
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T25
- Lot Code/Date Code: 092020T29
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T18
- Lot Code/Date Code: 092020T28
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T24
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T25
- Lot Code/Date Code: 092020T27
- Lot Code/Date Code: 092020T27
- Lot Code/Date Code: 092020T28
- Lot Code/Date Code: 092020T24
- Lot Code/Date Code: 092020T22
- Lot Code/Date Code: 112020T11
- Lot Code/Date Code: 112020T05
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T24
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T25
- Lot Code/Date Code: 112020T09
- Lot Code/Date Code: 112020T10
- Lot Code/Date Code: 092020T21
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T27
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T28
- Lot Code/Date Code: 092020T21
- Lot Code/Date Code: 092020T22
- Lot Code/Date Code: 092020T31
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T21
- Lot Code/Date Code: 112020T10
- Lot Code/Date Code: 112020T11
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T28
- Lot Code/Date Code: 092020T28
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T28
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T28
- Lot Code/Date Code: 092020T28
The additional canned dog food lot code provided to the FDA on May 17, 2019 includes:
- Lot Code/Date Code: 102020T21
The recalled products were distributed through retail pet stores and veterinary clinics nationwide.
Has Hill’s Science Diet Ever Been Recalled?
Yes. Hill’s Science Diet has been recalled a number of times in recent years.
Most recently, in January 2019, Hill’s Pet Nutrition issued a massive, worldwide recall of 33 different varieties of its canned dog foods — 22 million cans recalled in all — because of toxic levels of Vitamin D, which Hill’s blamed on a “supplier error.”
The recall included both the Hill’s Science Diet and Hill’s Prescription Diet brand lines. However, no dry foods, cat foods or pet treats were included in the recall.
Reportedly hundreds of dogs died after eating the affected dog food. Families who spoke with Petful told us their dogs had been in good health, but then, within a matter of days, their pets’ well-being took a severe downturn, ending in kidney problems, kidney failure and, in some cases, death.
“We believe that hundreds, if not thousands, of pets have died or become seriously ill as a result of eating Hill’s foods with toxic levels of Vitamin D,” attorney Nyran Rose Rasche told CBS News.
Following an investigation into that recall, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published a warning letter (archived here) stating that Hill’s had failed to follow its own procedures. “A systematic failure of your food safety plan occurred that resulted in the recall of canned dog food,” the FDA said.
The FDA ordered Hill’s to take corrective actions and put the company on notice of future inspections.
In response, Hill’s said, “We care deeply about all pets and are committed to providing pet parents with safe and high-quality products.… We continue to cooperate with the FDA, including all inspections and requests for information.”
A consolidated lawsuit with about 300 named plaintiffs is being overseen by the U.S. District Court in Kansas City. The case is called In Re: Hill’s Pet Nutrition Inc. Dog Food Products Liability Litigation, case number 2:19-md-02887.
For more on the 2019 Science Diet/Prescription Diet recall, be sure to read our article about how families were left horrified and heartbroken.
In November 2015, Hill’s initiated a market withdrawal (not a recall) of certain Hill’s Science Diet canned pet foods for unknown reasons. We learned about this via a note posted in some PetSmart retail locations.
One consumer who contacted a Hill’s customer service representative and asked about the reason for the market withdrawal was told they “don’t have that information” but that the products were “perfectly safe.”
Per the FDA definition, a market withdrawal is issued when there are minor problems with the products, such as a labeling mistake, as has been speculated in this case.
The year before that, in June 2014, 62 bags of Hill’s Science Diet Adult Small & Toy Breed dry dog food were recalled in California, Hawaii and Nevada because of potential salmonella contamination.
In March 2007, Hill’s Science Diet was one of more than 100 brands included in a wide-ranging recall of pet food that the FDA and other food safety officials determined may contain melamine — a chemical used in plastics manufacture. Every single can of Hill’s Science Diet Savory Cuts cat food was recalled. Thousands of pets died in the wake of the Menu Foods/melamine recalls.
Our research team spent hours going through recall databases and news archives to find earlier recalls of Hill’s Science Diet. We didn’t find any, but we did uncover another dark chapter in this pet food’s history.
Way back in August 1987, a study published in the journal Science drew attention to the fact that thousands of cats had been dying every year from DCM, the fatal heart condition, because of an apparent taurine deficiency in popular cat foods at the time.
In the study, Dr. Paul D. Pion, DVM, DACVIM, and others observed cats who were diagnosed with DCM and had been fed popular commercial cat foods such as:
Taurine deficiencies observed in the cats seemed like too much of a coincidence. Clearly, cats needed more taurine than was being provided by the foods at the time.
By the time the groundbreaking Science article was published, pet food makers like Hill’s Pet Nutrition and Ralston Purina had already begun changing their recipes to include higher levels of taurine.
No recall was ever issued, to our knowledge. However, the recipe reformulations brought about a dramatic decrease in the incidence of DCM in cats. A 1990 follow-up study using data from 2 veterinary hospitals found DCM in only 6% of cat patients, versus 28% of cats brought into the hospitals before the recipe changes went into effect.
Speaking at a 2019 “Science of Cats” summit, Dr. Pion shared that during the lead-up to publication in Science, he and his fellow researchers had faced “legal and other manipulations and threats from pet food companies trying to distance themselves.”
An executive from Hill’s Pet Nutrition, he recalled, “took the aggressive stance that this couldn’t be related to their diets and suggested, with impolite words, that our group was foolish and irresponsible for pursuing these investigations.”
And then, Dr. Pion added, “As other pet food companies were similarly implicated, we began receiving letters from their lawyers.”
On the positive side, he said, “I am glad that after this and other incidents, including the melamine pet food incident of 2007, our colleagues at pet food companies have often opted to take a more collaborative and open-minded approach when veterinarians suggest there may be a problem related to diets.”
Below, we list the full details of every single Hill’s Science Diet recall.
List of Hill’s Science Diet Recalls
Cause: Elevated levels of Vitamin D. Announcement: FDA report dated Jan. 31, 2019 (archived here); company webpage updated May 15, 2019 (archived here). What was recalled: In the United States, the following Hill’s Science Diet canned dog foods were recalled:
Note that Hill’s Prescription Diet canned dog food was also recalled. See our Prescription Diet page for details.
Of special note to anyone outside the United States:
Cause: Unknown “minor” issue, but possibly labeling issues. Announcement: Notice posted in select PetSmart stores, Nov. 28, 2015 (archived here). What was recalled: This was technically a market withdrawal rather than a recall. According to the FDA, a market withdrawal takes place “when a product has a minor violation that would not be subject to FDA legal action. The firm removes the product from the market or corrects the violation.”
All date codes of the following canned dog foods were withdrawn:
In addition, all date codes of one canned cat food were withdrawn:
Cause: Potential for salmonella. Announcement: FDA report dated June 2, 2014 (archived here). What was recalled: Hill’s Science Diet Adult Small & Toy Breed dry dog food with “best by” date and production code of #08 2015 M094 in the following size: 15.5 lb. bags with SKU #9097 (distributed in California, Hawaii and Nevada).
Cause: Melamine. Announcement: FDA report dated March 16, 2007 (archived here); company announcement dated March 27, 2007 (archived here). What was recalled: All Hill’s Science Diet Savory Cuts canned cat foods, which included the following in both 3 oz. and 5 oz. sizes:
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