The J.M. Smucker Company acquired Rachael Ray® Nutrish® pet food from Ainsworth Pet Nutrition in April 2018.
Rachael Ray® Nutrish® pet food demands high-quality ingredients from our trusted suppliers and are committed to producing outstanding products every day. Our team takes great pride in ensuring our foods are wholesome, delicious, and most importantly, safe for your dog and cat. Our trusted ingredient suppliers go through rigorous qualification and our specially crafted formulas are backed by 80+ years of focused excellence in pet nutrition.
By actively participating with Pet Food Industry (PFI) to establish and implement "Best Practices" consistent with evolving regulations under the Food Safety Modernization Act, we continue our commitment to food safety and quality assurance. In addition to continually challenging our food safety programs, Rachael Ray® Nutrish® brand employs independent third parties to assess and audit our food safety programs at each manufacturing facility.
Rachael Ray® Nutrish® uses only the best, high quality carefully chosen ingredients. Every trusted ingredient supplier goes through rigorous qualification and testing. Rest assured that every product is backed by over 80 years of focused excellence in pet nutrition. You can learn more about our ingredients in our Ingredient Hubs.
DCM stands for dilated cardiomyopathy and is a type of heart disease some dogs can develop. This disease is characterized by the heart and its chambers becoming dilated making it harder for the heart to pump which can lead to a buildup of fluids in the chest. The cause of DCM has been investigated by the FDA and If you have questions about DCM, we recommend speaking to your pet’s veterinarian.
In their most recent update, the FDA indicated they have not reached a conclusion on the role diet plays in these cases, or DCM in general, and is not recommending pet owners change their dogs’ diet. They have noted that they were investigating DCM in breeds of dogs that are not typically disposed to DCM. The FDA stated that these dogs were largely eating foods containing legumes like peas or lentils, other legume seeds, or potatoes as main ingredients.
While any amount of cases are too many, the American Veterinary Medical Association estimates there are 77 million pet dogs in the United States. From January 1, 2014 to April 30, 2019, the FDA has received reports of 524 dogs diagnosed with DCM as part of their ongoing research. Tens of millions of dogs have been eating food without developing DCM and Nutrish® was named in less than 2% of these noted cases.
As pet owners ourselves, we want to make sure all dogs are happy and healthy. Like many in the pet community, we continue to review available research on this topic and work closely with industry partners and the FDA to identify a root cause. It is not clear what role diet plays in these cases, but the industry and the FDA are actively researching. We understand you may have concerns about the FDA’s ongoing research into the cause of an increase in heart disease among dogs. At this time, no conclusion has been reached by the FDA, and based on the information we have reviewed with vets having expertise in animal nutrition, it is not clear what role diet plays. Our in-house team is working with industry partners and the FDA and we’re hopeful this collaboration will identify a conclusive root cause.
The FDA’s recent research has mainly focused on dogs.
The FDA has not provided any guidance to pet owners to avoid specific treats and at this time is not advising dietary changes based solely on the information gathered so far. We are working alongside the FDA to further research this increase in heart disease occurrences. As always, any decisions we make with our food will be to ensure all dogs being fed our products are happy and healthy.