Is Hill s Science Diet FDA approved

U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Summary

Company Announcement Date:

January 31, 2019

FDA Publish Date:

January 31, 2019

Product Type:

Animal & Veterinary Pet Food

Reason for Announcement:

Recall Reason Description

Potentially Elevated Levels of Vitamin D

Company Name:

Hill's Pet Nutrition

Brand Name:

Product Description:

Company Announcement

Hills Pet Nutrition is voluntarily recalling select canned dog food products due to potentially elevated levels of vitamin D. While vitamin D is an essential nutrient for dogs, ingestion of elevated levels can lead to potential health issues depending on the level of vitamin D and the length of exposure, and dogs may exhibit symptoms such as vomiting, loss of appetite, increased thirst, increased urination, excessive drooling, and weight loss. Vitamin D, when consumed at very high levels, can lead to serious health issues in dogs including renal dysfunction. Pet parents with dogs who have consumed any of the products listed and are exhibiting any of these signs should contact their veterinarian.In most cases, complete recovery is expected after discontinuation of feeding.

In the United States, the affected canned dog foods were distributed through retail pet stores and veterinary clinics nationwide. No dry foods, cat foods, or treats are affected.

Pet parents who purchased the product with the specific lot/date codes listed should discontinue feeding and dispose of those products immediately or return unopened product to your retailer for a refund. For more information, please contact Hills via our website or at 1-800-445-5777.

Hills Pet Nutrition learned of the potential for elevated vitamin D levels in some of our canned dog foods after receiving a complaint in the United States about a dog exhibiting signs of elevated vitamin D levels. Our investigation confirmed elevated levels of vitamin D due to a supplier error.

We care deeply about all pets and are committed to providing pet parents with safe and high quality products. Hills 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. In addition to our existing safety processes, we are adding our own further testing of incoming ingredients.

For further information, please contact Hills Pet Nutrition, Inc. at 1-800-445-5777 Monday-Friday during the hours of 9am-5pm (CST) or at [email protected]. Information can also be found at www.hillspet.com/productlist

This voluntary recall only impacts canned dog food and primarily in the United States. It is being conducted in cooperation with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Impacted products outside of the United States will be subject to separate notices on the country-specific website. If you are outside of the United States, please check your own countrys Hills website for more information.

Link to 1st Expanded Recall

Link to 2nd Expanded Recall

Company Contact Information

U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Summary

Company Announcement Date:

May 20, 2019

FDA Publish Date:

May 21, 2019

Product Type:

Animal & Veterinary Pet Food

Reason for Announcement:

Recall Reason Description

Potentially Elevated Levels of Vitamin D

Company Name:

Hills Pet Nutrition

Brand Name:

Product Description:

Company Announcement

Hills Pet Nutrition would like to clarify that a single can date/lot 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 Jan. 31 voluntary recall.

The cans were in cases marked with the previously recalled lot code. The vast majority of the product was distributed in October and November 2018 and unlikely to still be commercially available. The Hills Consumer Affairs and Veterinary Consultation Services have also not received any calls reporting ill pets for this SKU date code / lot code.

This single date code below is associated with an already recalled SKU:

For further information, please contact Hills Pet Nutrition, Inc. at 1-800-445-5777 or at [email protected]. Information can also be found at www.hillspet.com/productlist

Link to Initial Press Release

Link to First Expanded Recall

Company Contact Information

U.S. approves chicken made from cultivated cells, the nations first lab-grown meat

For the first time, U.S. regulators on Wednesday approved the sale of chicken made from animal cells, allowing two California companies to offer lab-grown meat to the nations restaurant tables and eventually, supermarket shelves.

The Agriculture Department gave the green light to Upside Foods and Good Meat, firms that had been racing to be the first in the U.S. to sell meat that doesnt come from slaughtered animals whats now being referred to as cell-cultivated or cultured meat as it emerges from the laboratory and arrives on dinner plates.

The move launches a new era of meat production aimed at eliminating harm to animals and drastically reducing the environmental impacts of grazing, growing feed for animals and animal waste.

Instead of all of that land and all of that water thats used to feed all of these animals that are slaughtered, we can do it in a different way, said Josh Tetrick, co-founder and chief executive of Eat Just, which operates Good Meat.

The companies received approvals for federal inspections required to sell meat and poultry in the U.S. The action came months after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration deemed that products from both companies are safe to eat. A manufacturing company called Joinn Biologics, which works with Good Meat, was also cleared to make the products.

Cultivated meat is grown in steel tanks, using cells that come from a living animal, a fertilized egg or a special bank of stored cells. In Upsides case, it comes out in large sheets that are then formed into shapes like chicken cutlets and sausages. Good Meat, which already sells cultivated meat in Singapore, the first country to allow it, turns masses of chicken cells into cutlets, nuggets, shredded meat and satays.

But dont look for this novel meat in U.S. grocery stores anytime soon. Cultivated chicken is much more expensive than meat from whole, farmed birds and cannot yet be produced on the scale of traditional meat, said Ricardo San Martin, director of the Alt:Meat Lab at University of California Berkeley.

The companies plan to serve the new food first in exclusive restaurants: Upside has partnered with a San Francisco restaurant called Bar Crenn, while Good Meat dishes will be served at a Washington, D.C., restaurant run by chef and owner Jose Andrs.

Company officials are quick to note the products are meat, not substitutes like the Impossible Burger or offerings from Beyond Meat, which are made from plant proteins and other ingredients.

Globally, more than 150 companies are focusing on meat from cells, not only chicken but pork, lamb, fish and beef, which scientists say has the biggest impact on the environment.

Upside, based in Berkeley, operates a 70,000-square-foot building in nearby Emeryville. On a recent Tuesday, visitors entered a gleaming commercial kitchen where chef Jess Weaver was sauteeing a cultivated chicken filet in a white wine butter sauce with tomatoes, capers and green onions.

The finished chicken breast product was slightly paler than the grocery store version. Otherwise it looked, cooked, smelled and tasted like any other pan-fried poultry.

The most common response we get is, Oh, it tastes like chicken, said Amy Chen, Upsides chief operating officer.

Good Meat, based in Alameda, operates a 100,000-square-foot plant, where chef Zach Tyndall dished up a smoked chicken salad on a sunny June afternoon. He followed it with a chicken thigh served on a bed of potato puree with a mushroom-vegetable demi-glace and tiny purple cauliflower florets. The Good Meat chicken product will come pre-cooked, requiring only heating to use in a range of dishes.

Chen acknowledged that many consumers are skeptical, even squeamish, about the thought of eating chicken grown from cells.

We call it the ick factor, she said.

The sentiment was echoed in a recent poll conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Half of U.S. adults said that they are unlikely to try meat grown using cells from animals. When asked to choose from a list of reasons for their reluctance, most who said theyd be unlikely to try it said it just sounds weird. About half said they dont think it would be safe.

But once people understand how the meat is made, theyre more accepting, Chen said. And once they taste it, theyre usually sold.

It is the meat that youve always known and loved, she said.

Cultivated meat begins with cells. Upside experts take cells from live animals, choosing those most likely to taste good and to reproduce quickly and consistently, forming high-quality meat, Chen said. Good Meat products arecreated froma master cell bank formed from a commercially available chicken cell line.

Once the cell lines are selected, theyre combined with a broth-like mixture that includes the amino acids, fatty acids, sugars, salts, vitamins and other elements cells need to grow. Inside the tanks, called cultivators, the cells grow, proliferating quickly. At Upside, muscle and connective tissue cells grow together, forming large sheets. After about three weeks, the sheets of poultry cells are removed from the tanks and formed into cutlets, sausages or other foods. Good Meat cells grow into large masses, which are shaped into a range of meat products.

Both firms emphasized that initial production will be limited. The Emeryville facility can produce up to 50,000 pounds of cultivated meat products a year, though the goal is to expand to 400,000 pounds per year, Upside officials said. Good Meat officials wouldnt estimate a production goal.

By comparison, the U.S. produces about 50 billion pounds of chicken per year.

It could take a few years before consumers see the products in more restaurants and seven to 10 years before they hit the wider market, said Sebastian Bohn, who specializes in cell-based foods at CRB, a Missouri firm that designs and builds facilities for pharmaceutical, biotech and food companies.

Cost will be another sticking point. Neither Upside nor Good Meat officials would reveal the price of a single chicken cutlet, saying only that its been reduced by orders of magnitude since the firms began offering demonstrations. Eventually, the price is expected to mirror high-end organic chicken, which sells for up to $20 per pound.

San Martin said hes concerned that cultivated meat may wind up being an alternative to traditional meat for rich people, but will do little for the environment if it remains a niche product.

If some high-end or affluent people want to eat this instead of a chicken, its good, he said. Will that mean you will feed chicken to poor people? I honestly dont see it.

Tetrick said he shares critics concerns about the challenges of producing an affordable, novel meat product for the world. But he emphasized that traditional meat production is so damaging to the planet it requires an alternative preferably one that doesnt require giving up meat all together.

I miss meat, said Tetrick, who grew up in Alabama eating chicken wings and barbecue. There should be a different way that people can enjoy chicken and beef and pork with their families.