How canine heart disease was tied to grain-free dog food
In 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, acting on input from a group of veterinary researchers, began investigating whether the increasing popularity of grain-free dog foods had led to a sudden rise in a potentially fatal heart disease in dogs, dilated cardiomyopathy.
Four years later, the FDA has found no firm link between diet and dilated cardiomyopathy. Nor has it rejected such a link, and research is ongoing. Publicity surrounding this issue, nevertheless, has shrunk the once-promising market for grain-free dog foods.
Furthermore, a tangled web of industry funding and interests appears to have influenced the origin, data collection, and course of the FDA study, according to internal FDA records.
A six-month investigation by 100Reporters has found that veterinarians who prompted the FDA to consider diet have financial and other ties to the leading sellers of grain-inclusive pet foods. Additionally, agency records show that for the initial study, some vets were instructed to submit only dilated cardiomyopathy cases that implicated grainfree, “exotic” or “boutique” pet foods. Suppliers of ingredients used in grain-free dog foods have also exerted pressure on the FDA to protect their market.
Consequently, the conversation around DCM and grain-free food is deeply divided, with each side claiming the other is prioritizing industry relationships over scientific integrity and the lives of pets.
“This became such an emotional issue,” said Dana Brooks, CEO of the Pet Food Institute, whose members produce most pet foods in the US. “We’re scrambling to try to even determine what’s going on.”
Dog food is shown in a pet store in Westfield, Ind., on Tuesday. In 2018, the FDA began investigating whether the increasing popularity of grain-free dog foods had led to a sudden rise in a potentially fatal heart disease in dogs. Four years later, the FDA has reached no conclusion, but the publicity surrounding the issue has shrunk the once-promising market for grain-free dog foods.
In its 2019 annual report, the USA Dry Pea & Lentil Council said it “convinced the FDA to clarify their language about their concerns and minimize the damage to the industry.”
In a 2019 letter to FDA officials, Sen. Jon Tester from Montana — a principal growing region for pulses— complained the agency’s “unsubstantiated warning” had hurt pulse farmers.
The following year, seven senators signed another letter to the FDA flagging potential “bias about causation of this disease.”
The FDA has continuously stated that DCM involves multiple factors. Shortly after that letter, Steven Solomon, director of the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine, emphasized this point, describing DCM as “a scientifically complex, multifaceted issue,” adding that “we ... currently do not view this as a regulatory issue.”
An FDA spokesperson wrote that while it met with stakeholders, “Ultimately, all FDA decisions and work are guided by science, data, and our public health mission.”
Regardless of the investigation’s ultimate findings, sales of grain-free dry dog foods have fallen since June 2018 and decreased by $60 million from 2021 to 2022. Meanwhile, grain-inclusive sales spiked in 2019 and rose by $700 million from 2020 to 2021.
Getting an answer about DCM will be difficult thanks to the complexity of the science and industry influence, said Marion Nestle, author of Pet Food Politics.
“They’re all trying to protect their market share.”