Premium pet brand Years says 'no evidence' found that dog food causes eye issues

A premium pet dog brand, which urgently recalled all of its fresh meals, has said an investigation led by experts has found “no evidence” that a recipe change caused severe eye issues in pets.

Years, a subscription dog food service which offers “fresh wholefood meals”, previously said it was issuing a voluntary recall of all Years Fresh Meals.

The announcement came after reports from dog owners across the UK of bilateral dry eye in their pets.

STV News spoke with a number of owners in Scotland about their concerns, with one couple fearing their dog’s eye removal was due to the food.

Following the allegations, the company launched an investigation and said contaminated buckwheat may be causing the condition, which, if left untreated, can lead to ulcers and may require surgery.

However, Years has now said that an independent probe has found no evidence of contamination, toxins or food safety issues in its dog food.

Scotland

Owners fear pet’s eye removal linked to recalled premium dog food

Six-year-old Lucy had to have her eye removed with her sister, Harper, also suffering eye issues potentially linked to contaminated Years dog food

They said the investigation was carried out by independent experts in food safety, microbiology, toxicology, veterinary clinical nutrition and veterinary ophthalmology.

It examined ingredients, retained production meals and food returned by customers following reports of sudden bilateral dry eye in dogs.

In total, 21,757 individual test results were carried out across 1,129 different substances.

A total of 273 meals covering all six Years recipes were tested, alongside 101 ingredient samples representing 35 ingredients.

According to Years, the investigation also found no link between Years food and reported cases of sudden bilateral dry eye.

The company said it plans to resume serving customers in October, but as a precautionary measure, all recipes will be made without buckwheat.

The report read: “Buckwheat was exhaustively tested for 940 distinct substances, including tropane alkaloids, mycotoxins, pesticides, heavy metals, and fagopyrin, with no toxin, safety, or contamination issues identified.

“96 dogs with no history of eating Years food have developed sudden bilateral dry eye, both in the UK and in international markets where Years food is neither sold nor consumed.

“The issue, therefore, extends beyond Years and is not specific to Years food.

“As a result, Years will resume serving customers in October. Since customers have expressed a preference to return to our previous recipes, and as a precaution, all Years recipes will now be buckwheat-free.”

Years meals were recalled over contamination fears STV News

Darren Beale and Ivan Barashki, co-founders of Years, said: “When these reports emerged, we stopped the entire business and focused all our time and effort on understanding what was happening.

“There was no scientific evidence that our food was responsible, but we were not prepared to take any chances with the dogs people trust us to feed. That is why we voluntarily recalled our fresh meals and commissioned a comprehensive investigation, drawing on independent experts in food safety, toxicology, veterinary clinical nutrition, and veterinary ophthalmology.

“We wanted the investigation to look at every credible possibility, and to be as comprehensive as possible, and this is why it took weeks rather than days. That meant testing retained production meals, food returned by customers and individual ingredients, looking for a wide range of possible contaminants and other causes. We also had our manufacturing, supplier and food safety processes independently examined.

“Our investigation is now complete. After extensive independent laboratory tests and two separate manufacturing reviews by independent experts, no contamination, toxin, safety or packaging migration issue has been found in Years food, and no link has been identified between Years food and sudden bilateral dry eye.

“We know this conclusion may not feel like a resolution if you’re caring for a dog with sudden bilateral dry eye. We see how hard this has been. These findings don’t change that, nor do they answer the wider question of what is causing this unusual pattern of cases, which is also impacting dogs that were never fed our food, both in the UK and internationally.

“Whilst we have completed our investigation, we still want to help find those answers, which is why we’ll keep sharing our findings with BrAVO and other independent bodies for as long as it takes.”