Voluntary Recall of Northwest Naturals’ Pet Food Due to Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) Contamination
Northwest Naturals of Portland, Oregon announced that it is voluntarily recalling one batch of Northwest Naturals brand 2lb Feline Turkey Recipe raw frozen pet food after it was tested positive for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (H5N1) virus.
According to the Oregon Department of Agriculture’s website, testing conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) and the Oregon Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (ODVL) at Oregon State University confirmed a house cat in Washington County, Oregon contracted H5N1 and died after consuming the raw frozen pet food. Tests confirmed a genetic match between the virus in the raw and frozen pet food and the infected cat.
“We are confident that this cat contracted H5N1 by eating the Northwest Naturals raw and frozen pet food,” said ODA State Veterinarian Dr. Ryan Scholz. “This cat was strictly an indoor cat; it was not exposed to the virus in its environment, and results from the genome sequencing confirmed that the virus recovered from the raw pet food and infected cat were exact matches to each other.”
The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) and local public health officials are monitoring household members who had contact with the cat for flu symptoms. To date, no human cases of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) have been linked to this incident. Although Oregon has reported one confirmed human case of HPAI, there are no confirmed cases of the virus in dairy cows or cow milk. As a precautionary measure, ODA announced on December 11 that it will test milk from every commercial dairy across the state. Neighboring states such as Idaho, Nevada, and California have reported HPAI cases in dairy cattle herds, contributing to over 700 confirmed cases in 16 states nationwide.
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