We sent questions or Oregon Department of Agriculture on December 26, 2024, in fact – we called, and emailed and called and emailed them numerous times over the past 8 working days (excluding holidays) since the Northwest Naturals recall was announced on 12/24/24.
Oregon Department of Agriculture, Director of Communications finally responded on January 7, 2025.
We asked: ‘I’d like a statement from Oregon Department of Agriculture confirming that ONLY an opened product of Northwest Naturals Pet Food was tested for avian flu. Confirming no unopened product was tested.’
Oregon Department of Agriculture responded: “As part of the investigation triggered by the necropsy results, the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL), tested open and unopened Northwest Naturals products found in the cat’s household. The product that tested positive for H5N1 came from the opened Northwest Naturals brand 2lb Feline Turkey Recipe raw and frozen pet food, which is under voluntary recall.“
(In other words, unopened products of Northwest Naturals did NOT test positive for avian flu. ONLY the opened product tested positive.)
We asked: ‘Why did Oregon Department of Agriculture fail to disclose to the public the recall was based on testing of an opened sample?’
Oregon Department of Agriculture responded: “That fact was not pertinent to the recall. The identified genome of H5N1 is not found in the environment, so environmental contamination was not a factor.”
In the Oregon Department of Agriculture press release about the recall, State Veterinarian Dr. Ryan Scholz was quoted stating: “This cat was strictly an indoor cat…” We asked: ‘Why did Oregon Department of Agriculture state to the public the subject cat in this Northwest Naturals incident was an indoor only cat? The cat was not an indoor only cat, this family included their dogs and cat on family outings in parks.’
Oregon Department of Agriculture responded: “The cat was an indoor cat. The excursions to outdoor destinations were controlled, and no potential routes of exposure to the H5N1 genotype were identified.”
And we asked: ‘Does Oregon law have authority to force a pet food recall based on testing of an opened sample? If yes, please provide link to that law.’
Oregon Department of Agriculture responded: “ORS 616 assigns the duty to the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) to administer and enforce food laws regarding the production, processing and distribution of all food products or commodities of agricultural origin.”
“ORS 616.205 (10) “Food” means: (a) Articles used for food or drink, including ice, for human consumption or food for dogs and cats; Per ORS616.235(c), foods are considered adulterated if they consist in whole or in part of a diseased, contaminated, filthy, putrid, or decomposed substance or if it is otherwise unfit for food.”
Personal opinion: While Oregon Department of Agriculture defends their actions of forcing a recall based on testing of an opened (potentially adulterated) sample of pet food, their defense screams of hypocrisy.
Right now in Oregon stores are pet foods that include ingredients sourced from “in whole or in part of a diseased, contaminated, filthy, putrid, or decomposed substance“; rendered pet food ingredients that violate Oregon (and federal) law. But those pet food violations go ignored by Oregon authorities.
Rendered ingredients in pet food (chicken meal, meat meal, meat and bone meal, animal fat, and more) are allowed to be sourced from diseased/decomposing animals in Oregon (and every other state) with no required disclosure to consumers.
Consistency. That is what we are asking for.
It is acceptable for Oregon Department of Agriculture to ask for a company to recall based on their state laws, ONLY IF they ask for all companies to recall based on the same state laws. But they don’t. No state does.
This is the issue that pet owners face. Inconsistency in regulation of pet food. One style of pet food is held to the highest level of law, while another style of pet food is directly allowed to violate law.
We have requested a meeting with Oregon Department of Agriculture to discuss this inconsistent enforcement of law. Meeting details will be shared (if they provide a meeting).
Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,
Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
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Hope Williams
January 8, 2025 at 11:53 am
YOU are definitely our SHERO in all that you do on behalf of the consumer and the dogs and cats they treasure. Thank you Susan ❤️👏🏼.
Lorraine
January 8, 2025 at 12:11 pm
“The cat was an indoor cat. The excursions to outdoor destinations were controlled”. This is a unbelievable contradiction. So because the areas the cat was in while outside were controlled, means the cat was an indoor cat and did not go outside?? I also find their comment about not disclosing the fact that the recall was based on testing of an opened sample as “not pertinent to the recall”. How can they guarantee that the cat did not already have the virus and in turn contaminated the open sample of cat food? They say that food can be contaminated with the virus by workers who have avian influenza so I’m sure the same thing can happen from a cat who has the virus. Kind of like which came first, the chicken or the egg!
Steve Brown
January 8, 2025 at 12:31 pm
Thanks for the excellent report, Susan.
Maybe I’m a little paranoid, but this feels like a planned, coordinated attack against Raw.
Deb
January 8, 2025 at 12:49 pm
Shame on them!
MJB
January 8, 2025 at 1:52 pm
I am put off by the statement that this strain of H5N1 is not found in the environment; to me, the implication is that they simply do not anticipate finding it in the environment up to this point, but that cannot be a hard stop for that path of investigation. Right? If domestic chickens and cattle can get strains from wild birds, can it not go the other way? How are we so certain that this strain is not in the environment, or cannot enter the environment? I’m not saying this as a conspiracy, I’m genuinely curious and want to know. The information shared here does not feel complete.
If they only found the contamination in the open bag, then they still cannot state where the virus originated. To me, as a consumer of human food from the same USDA supply chain as this pet food, that is scary and goes well beyond raw food fears. I need more information about how they plan to keep digging.
Are you able to follow up with questions about how they ID this specific genetic strain and determine it’s not in the environment? And if only the open bag tested positive for H5N1…what are the next steps involved in identifying where the point of ingress was for this virus?
Diane
January 10, 2025 at 5:54 am
How they ID this specific genetic strain?? With a fake and programmable PCR test, no doubt.
MJB
January 10, 2025 at 7:51 am
They can sequence the genome of the virus, the way they can human DNA. They do so for every individual in each H5N1 outbreak in the country, actually! But I still don’t understand how a strain can be labeled as “not in the environment” with such certainty — they should have provided more information on this.
cb
January 8, 2025 at 2:31 pm
Thank you so much for your efforts to get information we need.
T Allen
January 8, 2025 at 5:13 pm
Getting the genotype of the virus would likely ID it’s source. If was from wild birds than the cat might have picked it up from bird droppings outside. If it was from the cow strains than the food was more likely the source. Of course, as we all know, the bird poop could have been in the cat food as the source of infection. No way of knowing but OR AGR is definitely not being transparent in it’s communications. Not helpful or a way to earn trust!
Hope Valenti
January 9, 2025 at 1:07 am
I would not hold my breath for that Oregon meeting. A snowballs chance in hell of getting that meeting. Just my opinion.
Bren Wilcox
January 9, 2025 at 3:17 am
This is unbelievable, and I also feel like this is an attack on raw food advocates.
The barn cats that died of H5N1 in Texas were necropsied, and the virus in the cats was the same as the raw cow milk they tested. However, what is not known is how the cows became infected. Did the cats eat an infected bird and transmit the virus to the cows, which then infected the milk which the cats drank? No one knows.
Questions:
– can infected bird droppings mix with water (rain or irrigation systems) and the cat walks through a puddle in a “controlled environment” like a park, and subsequently licks its paws when cleaning and become infected?
– can bird droppings on a roof get washed off into rain water and infect it surroundings (let’s say a leaky roof in a pet food manufacturing facility?) This would put all pet food at risk, not just raw.
Hopefully with new people at the helm of the FDA, we’ll start getting some transparency! So important to keep fighting the good fight. Thank you Susan for all you do!!!
Sarah
January 9, 2025 at 11:43 am
HYPOCRISY defines EVERY aspect of Oregon’s governance (or lack thereof). Oregon’s only effectiveness lies in its apparently unaltered public persona of being “liberal.” As an Oregon resident for decades I can assure you that Oregon is NOT “liberal” in fact in every aspect Oregon is actually pretty far on the right – it UNFAILINGLY caters to government and corporate interests to the exclusion of citizens – especially citizens with pets, livestock, or both. There is no transparency. There are no regulations that are designed to assist citizenry. People here are treated as a despised necessity for the sole purpose of Oregon’s government collecting money. Oregon government fawns on corporations. Oregon punishes its citizenry. Don’t expect ANYTHING of a positive nature from the State of Oregon.
AJ
January 9, 2025 at 8:25 pm
Continued thanks for EVERYTHING you do and please-oh-please invite me to that meeting. Totally worth escaping MN for!