As a growing number of cats have gotten sick or died after consuming raw pet food or raw milk contaminated with the H5N1 virus, health officials have advised pet food companies to take extra precautions to protect against bird flu.
In recent guidance, the Food and Drug Administration suggested that pet food manufacturers take precautions in their food safety plans, such as “seeking ingredients from flocks or herds that are healthy” and “taking processing steps, such as heat treatment, that are capable of inactivating viruses.”
Since the H5N1 virus began spreading in 2022, there have been outbreaks in birds in every state.
Cats appear to be especially vulnerable to the H5N1 virus. Since the current outbreak of H5N1 began in 2022, dozens of domestic and feral cats have been infected. Some farm cats got sick from drinking raw milk. Others died after eating raw pet food contaminated with the bird flu virus.
Dr. Jane Sykes, a professor of small animal internal medicine at the University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine, said the FDA guidance is short on details.
“It doesn’t have any strict instructions on how to ensure there is no H5N1 in the foods,” she said. “They’re not specifically saying how to test or whether heat treatment is necessary.”
The FDA also posted advice to pet owners and suggested cooking raw pet foods to eliminate risk.
“There have been several recent investigations indicating transmission of H5N1 to cats through food, most often unpasteurized milk or uncooked meats,” the FDA said in its warning. “H5N1 can be deadly to cats, as well as dogs, so we encourage consumers to carefully consider the risk of this emerging pathogen before feeding their pets uncooked meat or an uncooked pet food product.”
Both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Veterinary Medical Association discourage the feeding of uncooked meat diets to companion animals due to the potential presence of pathogens, including H5N1.
“Heat treatments have been shown to be effective for inactivating H5N1 in meat, milk, and egg products,” the FDA said in its advisory to consumers. “We recommend that consumers follow the USDA guidelines for handling and thorough cooking of raw meat before feeding. Animals should also be kept from hunting and consuming wild birds.”
Compliance with the FDA’s guidance is voluntary, said Dr. J. Scott Weese, a professor at the Ontario Veterinary College and director of the Centre for Public Health and Zoonoses at the University of Guelph.
“The companies have to decide what they want to do,” Weese said. “The FDA tries to stay away from dictating practices. This is a first step. If there are more cases, they may take stronger steps.”
Sykes said the agency could potentially require that commercially available pet foods be treated to inactivate pathogens or require demonstration of regular testing.
In addition, the agency could require that companies that market raw food diets place warning labels on their products regarding the risk of foodborne illness in pets and in humans handling the products.
The FDA did not respond to a request for comment.
NBC News reached out to five raw pet food companies via phone and email for comment on the FDA’s guidance.
“We live in a rapidly changing world, and continually monitor potential hazards, like Avian Influenza, so we can reevaluate our food safety plans accordingly,” Brock Zentz, the senior director of food safety and quality at the pet food company Instinct, said in an email. “Like the FDA we recognize the risks of the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) and have processes in place to mitigate that risk.”
Along with careful sourcing of ingredients, Zentz said, the company uses a process called high pressure processing, or pasteurization, (HPP) to eliminate pathogens.
Amy Zalneraitis, co-founder and chief brand officer of We Feed Raw, said the company values safety.
“All of our meat comes from USDA-certified, human-grade suppliers who meet vigorous quality standards,” Zalneraitis said in an email. “As an added safety step, we use HPP on all our meats.”
Three other raw pet food manufacturers, Primal Pet Foods, Stella & Chewy’s and Carnivore Meat Company, did not respond to requests for comment.
HPP is an approach that is touted to kill pathogens by putting foods under very high pressure, although viruses could survive the process, Weese said.
“It’s better than nothing, but if you want to be really confident, cooking is the only sure thing,” Weese said. The HPP process can eliminate H5N1, “but it would depend on how it’s done, the exact pressure and time parameters.”
That’s why HPP should be considered “risk reduction” rather than “risk elimination,” Weese said.
Cooking is the only way to completely protect pets from bird flu-contaminated foods, experts agreed.
“If you want to be really confident, cooking is the only sure thing,” Weese said.
Similar to preparing poultry and eggs for human consumption, cooking poultry in raw pet food to an internal temperature of 165 F kills bacteria and viruses, including H5N1, according to the CDC.
People often think that freezing foods will kill viruses and bacteria, but that is not true, Sykes said. The only sure way to kill the pathogens is through heat, she added.
For people who want to stick with the brand of raw, freeze-dried food they’ve been giving their pets, she suggested they cook it before feeding it.
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