Hill's products recalled for excess vitamin D

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Hill's Pet Nutrition has recalled certain dog foods because they potentially contain excess vitamin D resulting from a supplier error. The recall joins similar recent recalls by nine other companies.

Hill's recalled 25 varieties of canned Prescription Diet and Science Diet foods in 54 lots, according to a notice published Jan. 31 by Hill's and the Food and Drug Administration. The list of affected products and identifying codes are available at the FDA's Safety website.

In November and December, the following companies also issued pet food recalls: Ahold Delhaize, ANF Inc., Elm Pet Foods Inc., King Soopers, Kroger, Lidl, Natural Life Pet Products, Nutrisca, and Sunshine Mills Inc. Details on those affected products are available at jav.ma/VitaminDrecall.

Dr. Karen Shenoy, associate director for veterinary affairs at Hill's, provided a statement that the company began investigating its products in early December after being contacted by a veterinarian. The recall notice indicates the veterinarian filed a complaint that a client's dog had clinical signs consistent with excess vitamin D after eating Hill's food.

Dr. Shenoy said Hill's employees confirmed Jan. 28 that a vitamin mix used in Hill's foods had high vitamin D content. The mix came from a supplier of 15 years that has a reputation for quality.

The recall notice indicates Hill's demanded new preventive measures.

"Hill's has identified and isolated the error and, to prevent this from happening again, we have required our supplier to implement additional quality testing prior to their release of ingredients," the notice states. "In addition to our existing safety processes, we are adding our own further testing of incoming ingredients."

The previous recall notice published in December indicated that the affected products had as much as 70 times the intended amounts of vitamin D, a potentially deadly difference. Signs of excess vitamin D include vomiting, increased thirst, increased urination, excessive drooling, and kidney failure.

Related JAVMA content:

Some dry dog foods may have harmful excess vitamin D (Jan. 15, 2019)