Too Much, Too Little, Too Late: Why Pet Food Recalls Continue for Vitamin D

Traversing pet food’s tightrope of nutrient minimums and maximums is no easy feat, especially for micronutrients like vitamins and minerals. At the same time, testing to ensure finished pet food products contain appropriate levels is often overlooked simply because it’s expensive, particularly for vitamin D.

While our human bodies can create their own vitamin D simply by stepping outside and basking in the sun, dogs and cats cannot. They rely exclusively on dietary vitamin D to meet their daily needs. Additionally, vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin, meaning any excess vitamin D taken in by a pet is stored in fat deposits throughout the body, therefore resulting in a very narrow range of safety before too much can become a serious health issue. This is why ensuring consistently appropriate levels in the diet is critical to a pet’s overall health and safety.

Vitamin D plays important roles in several biological processes, including the absorption of calcium and phosphorus, two other nutrients key for pet health. Too little vitamin D over time and a pet’s bones will begin to weaken, a disease otherwise known as rickets. Too much over time can result in kidney dysfunction that can eventually become fatal.

Pet food formulators and quality assurance managers far and wide understand these nuances well, and yet, there have been too many pet food recalls in recent years related to inadequate—and often unsafe—levels of vitamin D. For an industry committed to preserving and advancing pet health and wellness through nutrition, this trend is alarming. Let’s dig deeper.

Recent Vitamin D Recalls

Over the last eight years, there have been at least six distinct recalls of dog and cat food products due to inadequate levels of vitamin D. The latest came in April 2026, when Revival Animal Health recalled 33 lots of its Shelter’s Choice and Breeder’s Edge milk replacers for dogs due to “variable levels,” including some products that contained too little vitamin D and some the contained too much. According to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), two cases of rickets in dogs were reported in relation to recalled product.

More widespread recalls from Hill’s Pet Nutrition and Sunshine Mills, both of which are among the top pet-food producing companies globally, illustrate this as a repeated issue impacting not just smaller brands or niche products; multinational corporations are just as vulnerable, and when these brands issue recalls, the impacts of those recalls are often more far-reaching.

For example, a recall by Hill’s Pet Nutrition in 2019 included more than 675,000 cases of canned product, and six lawsuits (class-action and individual) were filed against the company as a result. Many of those suits involved a pet-owning plaintiff who believed their dog had died after consuming the recalled products.

In 2021, several pet food manufacturers, including Tuffy’s Pet Food, Fromm Family Foods, and Wet Noses, issued recalls for products containing elevated levels of vitamin D, all of which were distributed through various retail channels nationwide. In 2023, Nestlé Purina PetCare recalled nine lots of its Pro Plan Veterinary Diets (which are available only by veterinary prescription, by the way) for elevated levels of vitamin D after toxicity was reported in two dogs.

This issue is not isolated to the United States, either. Mars Petcare UK in 2021 initiated a recall of select Chappie and Pedigree products because they “could contain levels of Vitamin D, which may cause harm to your pet.”

The Rub

Complete-and-balanced pet nutrition can be complicated and sometimes mistakes happen, but ensuring a diet contains the optimal (or at least safe) balance of nutrients is the first and foremost responsibility of any brand making, marketing, or selling pet food. Being able to do so repeatably and at scale is the name of the game. So, what’s the rub?

At some point in the value chain, pet food manufacturers are failing to adequately test the vitamin and mineral blends they use in their formulations. Why? There are several reasons, but primarily, testing for a finished product for nutritive value isn’t cheap. For example, a full nutrient profile to ensure a product meets all AAFCO standards costs $3,000 per product. Testing for specific vital nutrients, like vitamin D, costs $360 per product on average.

However, vitamins and minerals incorporated into commercial pet food often come as premixed blends. Most of these premixes make up less than 0.5% of the entire formula, and that’s on the high end. In the end, the cost-per-pound of testing for these vital micronutrients is minimal. And when you consider this against the balance sheet of a multi-billion-dollar company, skipping critical testing steps starts to look like very small potatoes—especially when pets’ lives are on the line.

The Bottom Line

Nutrient variability remains a critical risk, both tangible for pets and their owners and reputational for brands and suppliers. We’ve seen this movie before, and we know how to prevent it. So, why don’t we?

Paying closer attention to ingredient origin and testing more comprehensively are two powerful tools we have to leverage against this problem, and BSM Partners has experts for both.

Our Food Safety, Quality Assurance, and Regulatory (FSQAR) specialists have seen it all and steered brands through murky waters to achieve greater safety, transparency, and trust. We have more board-certified companion animal nutritionists on staff than any other consulting firm or pet food company in the world, and their breadth of expertise can ensure products are formulated correctly, appropriately, and safely every time.

Reach out today to learn more about how our experts can help protect your brand’s reputation, and tune into the Barking Mad podcast to get the scoop on the latest headlines, trends, and challenges impacting pets and their humans.

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About the Author

Jordan Tyler is the Director of Media at BSM Partners and co-host of the Barking Mad podcast. She has more than seven years of experience reporting on trends, best practices and developments in the North American pet nutrition industry. Jordan resides in Bentonville, Arkansas, with her husband and their three furry family members.