diff --git a/src/main/java/com/snowflake/kafka/connector/internal/SnowflakeConnectionServiceV1.java b/src/main/java/com/snowflake/kafka/connector/internal/SnowflakeConnectionServiceV1.java
index 6811b1426..3b8e2138a 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/snowflake/kafka/connector/internal/SnowflakeConnectionServiceV1.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/snowflake/kafka/connector/internal/SnowflakeConnectionServiceV1.java
@@ -495,7 +495,7 @@ public boolean hasSchemaEvolutionPermission(String tableName, String role) {
   public void appendColumnsToTable(String tableName, Map<String, String> columnToType) {
     checkConnection();
     InternalUtils.assertNotEmpty("tableName", tableName);
-    StringBuilder appendColumnQuery = new StringBuilder("alter table identifier(?) add column ");
+    StringBuilder appendColumnQuery = new StringBuilder("alter table identifier(?) add column if not exists ");
     boolean first = true;
     StringBuilder logColumn = new StringBuilder("[");
     for (String columnName : columnToType.keySet()) {