Federal officials, who have spent the past year grappling with rising cases of bird flu in cattle and people, are facing a wave of new cases in cats, some of which have died after eating contaminated, uncooked pet food.
Since early December, More than twenty cases It has been 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 became ill after eating commercially available raw pet food, the country’s first known cases linked to pet food.
These cases have already prompted one pet food manufacturer to recall some of its products. Last week, federal officials announced new pet food safety rules and poultry monitoring efforts.
Avian influenza “is an emerging contaminant in animal foods,” Dr. Steve Grubb, chief medical officer at the US Food and Drug Administration, said in a press conference last week.
However, experts and officials said there is no need for pet owners to panic. There is no evidence that infected cats have transmitted the virus to humans, and cases have been specifically linked to unpasteurized milk and uncooked meat or poultry products.
Most commercial pet foods are cooked or heat processed. “The heat of processing must be sufficient to inactivate the virus,” said Phyllis Entis, a food safety microbiologist who worked for the Canadian Food Safety Agency.
But the cat cases highlight the dangers of raw food products and raise questions about safety and oversight gaps in parts of the food supply chain.
“We really have no idea how widespread this virus is, and we have already seen several cases of it sneaking into the pet food supply,” said Christine Coleman, an infectious disease researcher at the University of Maryland. Study of bird flu in cats. “It’s a really big vulnerability.”
Although dogs appear less susceptible to the virus than cats, and generally suffer milder symptoms, contaminated food products pose risks to canines as well.
Here’s what you should know.
How do cats get infected?
Experts have known this for a long time Cats are susceptible to infection with the virusWhich is called H5N1 and is often fatal in cats. There have been sporadic deaths in cats that prey on wild birds, and there was a rise in cat cases after bird flu began spreading on dairy farms about a year ago. Raw milk from infected cows often contains very high levels of the virus; Farm cats that die after ingesting raw milk are often an early sign of an outbreak.
(Pasteurization, a process in which milk is rapidly heated and then cooled, works to inactivate the virus and make the milk safe to drink, According to the Food and Drug Administration.)
Many recent infections have occurred in domestic cats that have had no known contact with wild birds or dairy farms.
In December, Oregon officials announced A pet cat contracted bird flu and died after eating Northwest Naturals raw and frozen pet food. Officials said samples of the food — the company’s Feline Turkey Recipe — tested positive for H5N1 and the virus was genetically identical to the virus found in the cat.
In an email statement, Northwest Naturals said the company has “deep concerns about the accuracy of open bag testing of pet food, which can contribute to cross-contamination and the introduction of exogenous contaminants that could lead to false positive or inaccurate test results.” “.
However, the company decided to release it Voluntary recall.
California has also reported cases of bird flu in cats fed raw milk or pet food. In a house in Los Angeles, Five cats got sick – And two died – after eating two types of raw pet food. Samples from one of the two brands, Monarch Raw Pet Food, tested positive for the virus, officials said.
“Monarch is committed to outreach from local agencies; “However, they are not requesting a recall, and to our knowledge there have been no other cases involving Monarch,” Stephanie Green, a company spokeswoman, said in an email.
How does the virus get into pet food?
It’s not entirely clear, and there may be different sources for different cases.
But in an email on Wednesday, an FDA spokesperson said some viral samples from infected cats were closely linked, genetically, to samples from turkey farms in Minnesota.
When avian influenza is detected in a turkey or chicken on a farm, federal regulations require that all birds in that flock be killed. Those birds are “not allowed in any food product whatsoever,” Dr. Eric Dibble, a USDA official, said at a press conference last week.
Turkeys and chickens usually become severely ill and die shortly after being infected. But experts say that if a bird catches the virus just before it is slaughtered, or otherwise develops a very mild infection, it will likely slip into the food supply undetected.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates commercial pet foods, requires pet food manufacturers to develop written safety plans, which outline the steps they take to ensure their products are safe for consumption.
Ms. Entis, the book’s author, said the agency “has zero tolerance for pathogens such as salmonella, listeria, E. coli or any other potential pathogens in ready-to-eat pet foods, and this includes raw pet foods.” “Toxic: From the plant to the food bowl, pet food is a risky business.”
(The FDA does not have an official definition of 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 practice, Mr. Entis said, the agency doesn’t have many resources to regulate and monitor pet foods. “So there are many who are not arrested, or are only arrested when there are reports of the disease,” she said.
Northwest Naturals said its pet food is processed in a facility that had a USDA inspector on site, and it also produces food for human consumption. “We remain fully confident in our strict quality control and ability to ensure we deliver safe and nutritious pet food to our customers,” the company said.
What do officials do about it?
last friday, The Food and Drug Administration announced New rules require companies that make pet foods that contain certain uncooked or unpasteurized ingredients to update their food safety plans to account for potential risks of bird flu.
Whether that will lead to meaningful safety reforms remains to be seen, Ms. Entis said. Some companies may decide to implement new precautions, such as purchasing ingredients only from suppliers who regularly test their animals for the virus. But others could say they have reviewed their existing safety plans and decided no new safeguards are necessary, Ms. Entis said.
Northwest Naturals said it is working to “reanalyze and enhance our already stringent food safety plan.”
US Department of Agriculture Also announced New guidelines for avian influenza surveillance on large commercial turkey farms in Minnesota and South Dakota. The guidelines, which could be expanded to other states in the future, call for turkeys to be isolated, monitored and tested for the virus 72 hours before they are sent for slaughter.
What can pet owners do?
Experts agree that the easiest way to protect your pets is to avoid feeding them raw milk, meat, or poultry. These products, which can harbor a range of food-borne pathogens, have always posed health risks, and bird flu is exacerbating them. “It’s not safe right now,” Dr. Coleman said.
Owners whose pets feed well on a particular raw pet food — and don’t want or can’t suddenly switch to a new product — can significantly reduce the risk by cooking the food before serving it.
Dr. Coleman said pet owners should also use this opportunity to become more knowledgeable about what is in the food they give their pets and how to process it. People with questions or concerns can contact 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 these very simple questions, your answer is to stop buying their product,” Dr. Coleman said.
People should also try to limit their pets’ contact with birds — and wild animals in general — and report sick and dead birds to local officials.
