Grain free dog food is not bad for dogs because it lacks grain. The concern the FDA raised in 2018 is about diets with a lot of peas, lentils, and other pulses, which is what most grain free foods use in place of grain, and the link to heart disease has not been proven or disproven. This post lays out what the FDA found, what it did not find, what the December 2022 update actually said, and how to make the call for your own dog without picking a side.
What the FDA actually said
The FDA opened its investigation in July 2018 after receiving reports of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), a disease where the heart muscle weakens and the chambers enlarge, in dogs eating certain foods, many labeled grain free and containing high proportions of peas, lentils, other legume seeds, or potatoes.1 Between January 2014 and April 2019 it logged 524 reports, 515 of them in dogs, covering 560 dogs and 119 deaths. Of the diets in those reports, 91 percent were grain free and 93 percent contained peas or lentils. Testing of the foods did not turn up abnormal nutrient levels that explained the cases.1
What the FDA did not say is that grain free food causes DCM. Its own summary calls this "a complex scientific issue that may involve multiple factors."1 In its Q&A it goes further: "FDA has no definitive information indicating that the diets are inherently unsafe and need to be removed from the market," and it has not asked any company for a recall.2
The numbers, and what they can and cannot carry
As of November 1, 2022, the FDA had received 1,382 reports of DCM in dogs since 2014. Reports fell after 2020: 608 came in between May 2019 and July 2020, and 255 between August 2020 and November 2022.2
Two honest readings of that decline. One: publicity peaked in 2019, so more people reported that year, and the drop is partly a reporting effect. Two: some brands reformulated after 2019, so the drop may be partly real. The FDA itself notes that adverse event numbers alone do not establish causation.1 Tufts cardiologist and nutritionist Lisa Freeman points out the other side: 255 reports over that stretch is still about one dog every three days, and DCM is underreported because it takes an echocardiogram to diagnose and time to file.3 Both things are true. Anyone telling you the case is closed, in either direction, is ahead of the data.
It is about pulses more than grain
This is the part the "grain free" label obscures. The FDA's Q&A says most of the diets in the reports have legume seed ingredients, also called pulses, high in their ingredient lists, and that this pattern shows up in both grain free and grain inclusive formulas.2 Freeman's 2023 review makes the same point: the association looks tied to diets containing pulses rather than to the presence or absence of grains, and some grain inclusive diets with pulses have been linked too.3
The early taurine theory has mostly not held up. Freeman notes that taurine deficiencies have not been identified in the published studies, apart from one study in Golden Retrievers, so something other than simple taurine deficiency is likely going on.3 As of early 2023 she counted sixteen peer reviewed studies since the 2018 alert, with the mechanism still unknown.3
So a grain free food built on meat and a modest amount of sweet potato is not the same product as a grain free food where peas, pea protein, and lentils fill the second through fifth slots. The label category is the same. The risk profile, as far as anyone can tell, is not.
The December 2022 update, and what it does not mean
In December 2022 the FDA said it did not intend to release further public updates unless there was meaningful new scientific information to share.1 That sentence has been read two ways online: as the FDA quietly admitting there was nothing to it, and as the FDA quietly giving up. Neither reading is in the text. The investigation was not closed and the advisory was not withdrawn; the agency stopped publishing case counts on a schedule. The most accurate summary is that the FDA moved from active public updates to a standing position: not proven, not dismissed, talk to your vet before changing diets.2
So, is grain free bad for dogs?
Here is the even handed version.
- Grain free solves a problem most dogs do not have. Tufts' nutrition FAQ is blunt that the vast majority of dogs are very efficient at digesting and using nutrients from grains, and that many grain free diets simply swap in refined starches like potato or tapioca that offer fewer nutrients and less fiber.4 Grain allergy is real but uncommon, and a diagnosis, not a guess.
- Grain free is not poison. Most dogs that eat it never develop heart problems, as Freeman herself notes, and the FDA has not found the diets unsafe.2 If your dog is thriving on one, this is not a reason to panic.
- Pulse heavy is the thing to watch, grain free or not. Read the first five ingredients. If peas, pea protein, lentils, or chickpeas appear more than once up there, that is the food the reports describe.
- Breed and history matter. If your dog is a breed with known DCM risk, or has ever had a murmur or an abnormal echo, the calculus tilts toward avoiding pulse heavy diets until the science settles. Freeman notes that dogs with diet associated DCM often live much longer after a diet change than dogs with the inherited form, which is the encouraging part of this story.3
The freeze dried raw foods many owners reach for as an alternative are often grain free and often pulse free, since they are mostly meat, organ, and bone; how to compare them is in the complete guide to freeze dried raw dog food. For the fuller picture of which ingredients we screen out and which we let through, see the ingredients The Truva Standard rejects.
How The Truva Standard handles it
We do not ban pulses, and we do not ban grain free. Under The Truva StandardEvery product we consider goes through the same test, five checks, pass or fail: named animal protein first, honest about what it is, nothing we cannot defend, recall record checked, and true value per dollar. If it did not pass all five, it is not on the shelf. A meat first grain free food with pulses well down the list can still pass, and several in our dog food collection do. When the evidence changes, so will the shelf. That is what deciding for yourself, instead of picking a side online, actually looks like.
When to call the vet
Call if your dog has been on a pulse heavy diet and shows a new cough, tires early on walks, breathes fast at rest, or faints, and ask specifically whether an echocardiogram makes sense. If you are simply worried and your dog seems fine, still ask; the FDA's own advice is to talk to your veterinarian before making a change in your dog's diet, and a vet who knows your dog's breed and history can tell you whether a switch or a heart check is worth it.2
Sources
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration, "FDA Investigation into Potential Link between Certain Diets and Canine Dilated Cardiomyopathy," updated December 2022. fda.gov
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration, "Questions and Answers: FDA's Work on Potential Causes of Non-Hereditary DCM in Dogs," updated December 2022. fda.gov
- Lisa M. Freeman, Tufts Petfoodology, "Diet-associated dilated cardiomyopathy: The cause is not yet known but it hasn't gone away," 2023. Petfoodology
- Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, "Nutrition FAQs," accessed 2026. vet.tufts.edu