Cats may have contracted avian influenza from raw pet food. Here's what you need to know:

Federal officials, who have been grappling with a surge in avian influenza infections in cattle and humans over the past year, are now faced with a rash of new cases in cats, some of which have died after eating contaminated uncooked pet food. I am doing it.

From early December, 20 or more It has also been confirmed in domestic cats in the United States. Officials have linked some cases to raw milk containing a virus known to pose a serious risk to cats. However, some cats became ill after eating commercially available raw pet food, making this the first confirmed case in Japan related to pet food.

One pet food manufacturer has already recalled some of its products in response to the incident. And last week, federal officials announced new pet food safety regulations and poultry surveillance efforts.

Avian influenza “is an emerging contaminant in animal foods,” Dr. Steve Grube, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's chief medical officer, said at a briefing last week.

Still, experts and officials said there's no need for pet owners to panic. There is no evidence that infected cats can transmit the virus to humans, particularly in relation to unpasteurized milk and uncooked meat and poultry products.

Most commercially available pet foods are cooked or heat-treated.. “The heat during processing should be sufficient to inactivate the virus,” said Phyllis Entis, a food safety microbiologist who worked for Canada's Food Safety Agency.

But the cat incident highlights the risks of raw food and raises questions about gaps in safety and oversight in parts of the food supply chain.

“We don't really know how widespread this virus is, but we've already seen some cases of it sneaking into the pet food supply,” said Kristen Coleman, an infectious disease researcher at the University of Maryland. said. Researching avian influenza in cats. “This is a really big vulnerability.”

Dogs are less susceptible to the virus than cats and symptoms generally appear to be milder, but contaminated food also poses a risk to dogs.

Here's what you need to know:

How do cats become 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 of cats that prey on wild birds, and cat infections have skyrocketed since avian influenza began circulating on dairy farms about a year ago. Raw milk from infected cows often contains very high levels of the virus. Farm cats that died after swallowing raw milk often served as an early sign of an outbreak.

(Pasteurization is a process in which milk is rapidly heated and then cooled to inactivate viruses and make the milk safe to drink. According to the FDA. )

Many of the recent infections occurred in indoor cats with no known contact with wild birds or dairy farms.

In December, This was announced by Oregon State authorities. A pet cat contracted bird flu and died after eating raw frozen pet food from Northwest Naturals. A sample of the food, which is the company's cat turkey recipe, tested positive for H5N1, and the virus was genetically consistent with the virus found in cats, officials said.

In an emailed statement, Northwest Naturals said the company is “deeply concerned about the accuracy of tests on opened bags of pet food, which could lead to cross-contamination and the potential for false positives or inaccurate test results. “This could lead to the introduction of certain external contaminants.” ”

Nevertheless, the company decided to issue Voluntary recall.

In California, cases of avian influenza have been reported in cats fed raw milk and pet food. In a family in Los Angeles, 5 cats got sick Two people died after eating two types of raw pet food. Officials said samples from one of the two brands, Monarch Raw pet food, tested positive for the virus.

“Monarch is responding to outreach from local agencies, but they are not seeking a recall and, to our knowledge, there have been no other incidents involving Monarch,” company spokeswoman Stephanie Green said. he said in an email.

How do viruses get into pet food?

It is not completely clear and there may be different sources of information in each case.

However, an FDA spokesperson said in an email Wednesday that some of the virus samples taken from infected cats are closely genetically related to samples from a turkey farm in Minnesota.

If avian influenza is detected in farmed turkeys or chickens, federal regulations require all birds in the flock to be culled. Dr. Eric Deeble, a U.S. Department of Agriculture official, said at a briefing last week that the birds “are in no way permitted to be used in any food products.”

Once infected, turkeys and chickens usually develop severe symptoms and die quickly. But experts say if a bird becomes infected with the virus just before being slaughtered, or otherwise develops a very mild infection, it could slip into the food supply undetected.

The FDA, which regulates commercial pet food, requires animal food manufacturers to develop a written safety plan that outlines the steps they are taking to ensure their products are safe for consumption.

“The agency has a zero-tolerance policy for pathogens such as Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes, E. coli, and other potential pathogens in ready-to-eat pet foods, including raw pet foods,” said Entis, author of the book. “No,” he said. “Toxic: From the factory to the food bowl, pet food is a dangerous business.”

(The FDA does not have an official definition for raw pet food, but generally products sold as “raw” have not undergone any type of heat treatment, such as cooking or pasteurization.)

But in reality, the agency doesn't have many resources to regulate and monitor pet food, Entis said. “So there's a lot of things that don't get caught, or that get caught only when there's a report of illness,” she says.

Northwest Naturals said its pet food is processed in a facility that has USDA inspectors on site and also produces food for human consumption. “We continue to have full confidence in our rigorous quality controls and ability to ensure we provide safe and nutritious meals for our customers' pets,” the company said.

What are authorities doing about it?

Last Friday, FDA announced New rules requiring companies that produce pet food containing certain uncooked or unpasteurized ingredients to update their food safety plans to account for the potential risk of avian influenza.

Whether that will lead to meaningful safety reform remains to be seen, Entis said. Some companies may decide to introduce new precautions, such as purchasing raw materials only from suppliers who regularly test animals for the virus. But some may say they reviewed their existing safety plans and determined no new safety measures were needed, Entis said.

Northwest Naturals said it is working to “reanalyze and enhance our already rigorous food safety plan.”

USDA was also announced New avian influenza surveillance guidelines for large commercial turkey farms in Minnesota and South Dakota. The guidelines, which could be expanded to other states in the future, require turkeys to be isolated, monitored and tested for the virus 72 hours before being sent to slaughterhouses.

What can pet owners do?

Experts agree that the easiest way to protect your pet is to avoid feeding it raw milk, meat, and poultry. These products can harbor a variety of foodborne pathogens and always pose a health risk, and avian influenza has only increased the risk. “It's not safe at this point,” Dr. Coleman said.

Owners whose pets do well on a particular raw pet food, but are unwilling or unable to suddenly switch to a new product, can greatly reduce the risk by cooking the food before feeding.

Dr. Coleman said pet owners should also take this opportunity to learn more about what's in the food they're feeding their pets and how it's processed. If you have questions or concerns, you can contact the pet food company directly and ask about where they source their ingredients and how their food safety measures are taken. “And if they can't answer a very simple question, the answer is for you. Stop buying their products,” Dr. Coleman said.

People should also try to limit contact between pets and birds, and wildlife in general, and report sick or dead birds to local authorities.