Voluntary recall of all Years fresh meals

Dry eye happens when a dog's eyes stop producing enough tears, which can lead to irritation, redness and discomfort if untreated. 'Bilateral' means it affects both eyes, typically with zero tear production, and 'sudden' means it comes on quickly rather than developing gradually.

No. We are advising all customers, as a precautionary measure, to stop feeding Years meals which contain buckwheat.

Stop feeding your dog Years meals. Please contact your vet as soon as possible - early treatment makes a real difference. It would also help the investigation if you could let us know too. With your permission, Years would also welcome the opportunity to speak directly with your vet or veterinary ophthalmologist.

Seeing your dog in discomfort, especially with something sudden and unexplained, is genuinely distressing, and we want to help however we can.

• After you have stopped feeding Years - please follow your vet's advice first and foremost. They know your dog's situation best.
• Let us know directly. We'll send you a short data request sheet to capture the details of your dog's case - this genuinely helps us build a clearer picture, and every case matters to the investigation.

Thank you for reporting this to us and thank you for your patience while we investigate. We are under no illusion that this would have had a massive impact on you and your dog's life, and we welcome discussing with you further on how we can help.

We will be reaching out to everyone impacted, but if you want to speed up the process or have not heard from us in 72 hours, please email: care@years.com

We want to personally acknowledge and thank the customers who set up Facebook groups, who pushed, and who demanded answers. Your advocacy made a real difference, giving us the ability to properly challenge our advisors, and to look again at what could really be causing dry eye in dogs.

Alongside customer advocates, several ophthalmologists actively engaged with us, thank you. Some of the data points you shared have really assisted the investigation.

If you have incurred veterinary costs that you believe may be connected to this issue, we want to make sure your claim is properly considered. Claims are being handled through our insurer's specialist claims handler, Crawford & Company. Please send all your detailed documentation to:

Claims handler: Crawford & Company 

Email: convexclaims@crawco.co.uk

Quote Insurance Reference: 8191771

Crawford & Company aims to contact you within 5-10 working days of receipt of your email. Years will provide the claims team with any information they need from us as quickly as possible to support the assessment of your claim.

The investigation will continue to be led by our dedicated food safety and technical team, and two independent experts to ensure a structured investigation. This includes a root cause analysis specialist focused on our product and manufacturing processes, and a toxicologist focused on identifying any interactions at a biological level.

An RCVS Specialist in Small Animal Clinical Nutrition is supporting the investigation. We will communicate the findings in due course, and continue to consult with the ophthalmologist community.

Yes. As our investigation continues, we've made the decision to reformulate our recipes – immediately removing buckwheat and returning to super seed, quinoa.

To give our team the time needed to complete this work properly, we're pausing all subscriptions for an initial period of 6 weeks. This allows us to finalise the reformulation and return our recipes to the formulation our customers knew before the change.

Your subscription has been automatically paused for 6 weeks. You can pause or cancel your subscription any time by logging into your account here.

We recommend a minimally processed wholefood diet wherever possible.

Yes, we will be communicating with you directly regarding refunds. 

All Years recipes – including puppy, adult and senior meals - contain a small amount of buckwheat (between 6.3% and 7.2% depending on the recipe).  

Our investigation is currently focused on potential contamination within a portion of buckwheat supply, rather than buckwheat itself, although a definitive cause has not yet been established.

• In late July, we began receiving multiple reports of dogs experiencing sudden, bilateral dry eye.
• On 1st August, an independent vet and RCVS Specialist in Small Animal Clinical Nutrition advised that a link to Years foods was unlikely based on available data, but recommended we investigate. We launched an evidence-based investigation, including:
• UKAS-accredited independent lab testing of Years meals and Breed Health+ supplements for heavy metals, mycotoxins, alkaloids, pesticides and veterinary drug residues
• Direct engagement with ophthalmologists across the UK to understand the clinical picture and case data
• A customer questionnaire to identify patterns in diet, environment and other factors
• Two independent experts appointed to lead formal root cause and toxicology investigations
• By 16th August, we had received 57 suspected cases out of roughly 40,000 customers year to date (0.1%), with most reported after 12th August. 
• On 17th August, we decided to proactively and voluntarily issue a full recall. Rising case numbers - combined with input from customer advocates, further feedback from ophthalmologists, and growing evidence around buckwheat - led us to make the decision to proactively and voluntarily issue this full recall.
• As of 9pm on 18th August, 192 customers in total have reported potential, as yet unverified, eye issues. As our investigation is ongoing and individual reports are being assessed, we will publish verified findings at the conclusion of our investigation.

The Breed Health+ supplements do not contain any buckwheat.

No other products are affected.

There is no evidence to date which suggests this would be the case.

No. Only the symptoms listed above should be monitored.

If your dog isn't showing any of the symptoms above, there's no need to get them checked by a vet as a precaution. That said, if you're ever concerned about your dog's health, please do speak to a qualified vet.

Yes, the FSA has been advised, along with Trading Standards, prior to us issuing this recall.

Yes. Independent laboratory testing is underway, alongside our wider investigation, to understand exactly what has happened. We want to give customers clear, evidence-based answers rather than speculate while that work continues, and we will communicate the findings as soon as the investigation is complete.

Yes, but we will be in touch before your subscription is due to restart. As ever, you are always in control of your subscription, and you can amend your delivery date quickly via your dashboard.