Federal officials who spent the past year grappling with a surge in bird flu infections in cattle and humans are now dealing with new cases in cats, some of which have died after eating contaminated, undercooked pet food.
From the beginning of December, More than two dozen cases Confirmed in domestic cats in the United States. Officials have linked some cases to virus-laden raw milk, which is known to pose a serious risk to cats. But other cats fell ill after eating commercially available raw pet food — the first known cases in the country linked to pet food.
The lawsuits have already prompted one pet food manufacturer to recall some of its products. And last week, federal officials announced new pet food safety rules and poultry surveillance efforts.
Bird flu is “an emerging contaminant in animal feed,” Dr. Steve Grubb, a chief medical officer at the US Food and Drug Administration, said in a briefing last week.
Still, experts and officials say pet owners need not panic. There is no evidence that infected cats have spread the virus to humans, and cases have been linked specifically to pasteurized milk and undercooked meat or poultry products.
Most commercial pet foods are cooked or heat-treated. “The heat of processing should be sufficient to inactivate the virus,” says Phyllis Entis, a food safety microbiologist who works for the Food Safety Agency of Canada.
But the cat case highlights the risks of raw food products and raises questions about gaps in safety and oversight in parts of the food supply chain.
“We don’t really understand how widespread this virus is, and we’ve already seen several cases of it in the pet food supply,” said Kristen Coleman, an infectious disease researcher at the University of Maryland. Studying bird flu in cats. “That’s a really big weakness.”
Although dogs appear to be less susceptible to the virus than cats and usually experience milder symptoms, contaminated food products pose a risk to dogs as well.
Here’s what to know.
How are cats getting infected?
Experts have known this for a long time Cats are susceptible to virusesThis is called H5N1 and is often fatal in cats. There have been sporadic deaths among cats that hunt wild birds, and there was a spike in cat cases about a year ago after bird flu broke out on dairy farms. Raw milk from infected cows often contains high levels of virus; Farm cats that die after consuming raw milk often serve as an early sign of an outbreak.
(Pasteurization, a process in which milk is rapidly heated and then cooled, inactivates viruses and makes the milk safe to drink, According to the FDA.)
Many of the recent infections have occurred in domestic cats that had no known contact with wild birds or dairy farms.
In December, Oregon officials announced That a pet cat contracted bird flu and died after eating Northwest Naturals raw, frozen pet food. The food sample — the company’s feline turkey recipe — tested positive for H5N1 and had a genetic match to the virus found in cats, officials said.
In an emailed statement, Northwest Naturals said the company “has serious concerns about the accuracy of testing an open bag of pet food, which could contribute to cross-contamination and introduce extraneous contaminants that could lead to false positives or inaccurate test results.”
Nevertheless, the company decided to issue A voluntary withdrawal.
Bird flu infections have also been reported in California after cats were fed raw milk or pet food. In a house in Los Angeles, Five cats have become ill – and two died – after eating two types of raw pet food. A sample of one of two brands of Monarch Raw pet food tested positive for the virus, officials said.
“Monarch is responding to outreach from local agencies; However, they are not asking for a recall, and to the best of our knowledge there are no other cases involving Monarch,” Stephanie Green, a company spokeswoman, said in an email.
How are viruses getting into pet food?
This is not entirely clear, and may have different origins in different cases.
But in an email Wednesday, a USDA spokeswoman said some viral samples from infected cats were genetically closely related to samples from turkey farms in Minnesota.
When bird flu is detected in a farmed turkey or chicken, federal regulations require that all birds in that flock be culled. Dr. Eric Dibble, an official at the US Department of Agriculture, told a briefing last week that the birds “are not allowed in any food product.”
Turkeys and chickens usually become seriously ill and die soon after becoming infected. But if a bird picks up the virus just before slaughter, or somehow has a very mild infection, it could potentially go undetected in the food supply, experts said.
The FDA, which regulates commercial pet food, requires pet food manufacturers to develop written safety plans, outlining the steps they are taking to ensure their products are safe for consumption.
The agency “has zero tolerance for pathogens like salmonella or listeria or E. coli or any other potential pathogen that is in prepared pet food, and that includes raw pet food,” said Ms. Entis, who authored the book. “Toxic: From Factory to Food Bowl, Pet Food is a Risky Business.”
(The FDA does not have a formal definition for raw pet food, but in general, products marketed as “raw” have not undergone any type of heat treatment, such as cooking or pasteurization.)
But in reality, Mr. Entis said, the agency doesn’t have a lot of resources for pet food regulation and oversight. “So there’s a lot that goes undiagnosed, or gets caught only when the illness is reported,” he said.
Northwest Naturals said its pet food was processed in a facility that had a USDA inspector on site and also produced food for human consumption. “We are fully confident in our strict quality control and ability to ensure that our customers’ pets are served safe and nutritious food,” the company said.
What are officials doing about it?
Last Friday, FDA announced The new rules require companies making pet food containing certain uncooked or pasteurized ingredients to update their food safety plans for the potential danger of bird flu.
Whether that will result in meaningful security reforms remains to be seen, Ms Entis said. Some companies may decide to implement new precautions, such as buying ingredients only from suppliers who regularly test their animals for viruses. But others may say they’ve reviewed their existing security plans and decided no new protections are needed, Ms. Entis said.
Northwest Naturals said it is “working to reevaluate and strengthen our already rigorous food safety plan.”
USDA Also announced New bird flu surveillance guidelines for large, commercial turkey farms in Minnesota and South Dakota. The guidelines, which may be expanded to other states in the future, call for turkeys to be isolated, monitored and tested for the virus 72 hours before being sent to slaughter.
What can pet owners do?
The easiest way to protect your pets is to avoid feeding them raw milk, meat or poultry, experts agree. These products, which can harbor an array of food-borne pathogens, always pose health risks, and bird flu exacerbates them. “It’s not safe now,” Dr. Coleman said.
Owners whose pets are doing well on a particular raw pet food — and they don’t want to or can’t suddenly switch to a new product — can significantly reduce the risk by cooking the food before serving the food.
Pet owners should also use this as an opportunity to become more familiar with the food they serve their pets and how it is processed, Dr. Coleman said. Those with questions or concerns can reach out to pet food companies directly to ask where they source their ingredients and what food safety measures are in place. “And if they can’t give you an answer to this very simple question, then there’s your answer — stop buying their product,” Dr. Coleman said.
People should try to limit their pets’ contact with birds — and wild animals in general — and report sick and dead birds to local officials.
