Product recall

Voluntary recall of all Years fresh meals

As a precaution, we're issuing a voluntary recall of all Years Signature Meals.

This follows a small number of reports of dogs having a potential adverse eye reaction to buckwheat, a common and approved ingredient, which we include in our meals.

As of 16th August, this has affected 0.1% of our customers.

We know for some, this will strike as overly cautious - but at Years, we will always put every dog's health and wellbeing first.

Your subscription is paused for 6 weeks, and we will be reformulating our recipes, without buckwheat.

What you should do

  • Stop feeding Years fresh meals immediately, whether your dog is experiencing symptoms or not
  • Do not feed the meals to any other dog or animal
  • Do not donate or sell the meals
  • Your subscription will be automatically paused tonight, for an initial period of six weeks. This gives us time to freshly cook your dog's meals using quinoa in place of buckwheat along with a thank you gift, for your patience, in your next subscription box.
  • Your help with our investigation would mean a great deal. We'll arrange a free collection of any unused meals and apply a full credit to your account for the order.

What symptoms to look out for

Excessive blinking or squinting; continuous pawing at the eyes; thick discharge; general discomfort around the eyes. If you see any of these signs, and they have not resolved within a few days, contact your vet and mention this recall.

Contact details

We've tried to answer as many questions as we can here, and if we haven't covered yours, you can contact us here.

About your dog

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 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 - including whether to pause feeding Years while things are assessed. 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.
  • Hold on to any unopened or part-used product you have. We'll arrange a free collection, so we can include them as part of our investigation.

Thank you for reporting this to us and thank you for your patience while we investigated. 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 that actively engaged with us, thank you, some of the data points you shared have really assisted the investigation.

Years

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.

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

Yes. Following our ongoing investigation, 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.

Returning meals

Your help with our continued study of buckwheat, would mean a great deal. We'll arrange free collection of any unused meals and apply a full credit to your account for the order.

We recommend a minimally processed wholefood diet wherever possible.

Your help with our investigation would mean a great deal. We'll arrange a free collection of any unused meals and apply a full credit to your account for the order.

Product / batch specifics

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

  • 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
  • As of 16th August, we've received 57 suspected cases out of roughly 40,000 customers year to date (0.1%), with most reported after 12th August. Given rising case numbers, input from customer advocates and ophthalmologists, and growing evidence around buckwheat.
  • On 17th August 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.

Just the meals – the Breed Health+ supplements do not contain any buckwheat

No other products are affected, just the meals

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

No, no other symptoms, other than those listed above.

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 have been advised, along with Trading Standards, prior to us issuing this recall.

Yes we will.

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

We will be in touch to arrange a timeslot that works for you.

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