Oregon Department of Agriculture just proved to the entire world they are a corrupt regulatory organization. How? By violating the #1 rule in testing protocol and recall procedure.
First…my sincere sympathies to the family whose cat died. Your loss is devastating, regardless to the actions of Oregon Department of Agriculture.
Background: Northwest Naturals pet food initiated a recall on 12/24/24 for “highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus.”
This was the first confirmation of HPAI in a pet food in the US. But…
The testing of the pet food was performed by Oregon Department of Agriculture on an opened bag of pet food.
Fact: It is mandatory for regulatory authorities to test unopened samples. The protocol for USDA, FDA, and all State Departments of Agriculture is to test an unopened sample; an opened sample is not an acceptable sample to force a company to recall. An opened sample can be contaminated from outside sources prior to analysis. Laboratory analysis of an opened sample should NEVER be used to issue a press release frightening a world of pet owners.
But in this instance, Oregon Department of Agriculture did not test any unopened packages of Northwest Naturals pet food.
Instead, Oregon Department of Agriculture issued an alarming press release relying on lab analysis of an opened bag of pet food neglecting to disclose to the public their lack of following proper procedure.
We have placed multiple phone calls to Oregon Department of Agriculture asking for a statement to why the agency DID NOT follow proper protocol, as of publishing this post – Oregon has not returned our calls.
A world of pet owners deserves a full investigation.
I am urging all pet owners to write the Governor of Oregon demanding for a public statement as to why the Department of Agriculture ignored all regulatory procedures that were required of them BEFORE they issued a press release. Contact Governor Tina Kotek here: https://www.oregon.gov/gov/Pages/share-your-opinion.aspx.
Ask Governor Kotek for a full investigation and a prompt public explanation.
Oregon Department of Agriculture has severely damaged the public’s confidence in raw pet food by neglecting to follow their own required procedures. This is unacceptable.
Personal statement: I have five cats, and I still feed them raw pet food. Oregon Department of Agriculture has not changed my mind in the least.
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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T Allen
December 30, 2024 at 5:01 pm
OMG! What the H— is wrong with these GOV agencies? The ignorance and intentional disregard for rules and regs on display at all levels of Gov is appalling. Maybe lawsuits will get leaders to provide more attention to hiring Qualified personnel and less on hiring their relatives and friends. There is NO excuse for this!
Lorraine
December 31, 2024 at 9:58 am
Just look at the Government agencies failures this year. Secret Service that cannot protect people properly, FEMA who decides who gets help and who doesn’t based on the people’s political preference. Look at the lies and incorrect information on the pandemic where now they are saying the 6′ apart, the masks, closing down businesses ect wasn’t necessary. People’s lives were ruined, the people are the ones who paid the price. The heads of the Government agencies never even get reprimanded, they just get to play musical chairs with-in other agencies.
Marshs
December 30, 2024 at 5:17 pm
These people are despicable!
Amy
December 30, 2024 at 5:31 pm
And shame on all the news outlets who jumped on this and created panic.
Marylou
December 30, 2024 at 9:38 pm
They were in a lose/lose situation. Don’t be so fast to judge them. If they didn’t report you would be saying the same thing.
Lynn
December 31, 2024 at 7:58 am
Pet owners should be able to hold this government agency accountable for its actions – or lack thereof – they should be held accountable for not doing due diligence – for not testing unopened bags of food. The question is WHY are they not doing their job in collecting a clear picture of whether the rest of the food is unsafe or not. And WHY they only looked at one source (the opened bag of food) when they needed to test an unopened bag for pathogens so they could determine if it was an isolated case or not?
scrappyrat
December 30, 2024 at 5:49 pm
Does an open package mean a package that was sold to the consumer and then sent in for testing? That is just…wow. Anything can have happened to an opened sample. It can be exposed to pretty much anything. Wild birds could have had direct contact with it long after the product was sold. It could be intentionally tampered with and contaminated. That’s just bizarre.
Susan Thixton
December 30, 2024 at 6:12 pm
Yes, in this instance the only product tested was from the pet owner – their open package.
Nai
December 30, 2024 at 6:47 pm
So, just to make sure I understood this correctly… The opened bag of food that was fed to the cat that passed was tested, however, they did not contact Northwest Naturals for an unopened bag from the exact same food/lot/batch/etc to be tested as well?
Susan Thixton
December 30, 2024 at 8:05 pm
The only thing I know is that only the opened bag of food from the pet owner was tested, no unopened bag was tested. I did try to gain more information from Oregon Department of Agriculture, but thus far they are refusing to speak with me.
Kathy
December 30, 2024 at 7:32 pm
Thank you for this, even though it’s extremely maddening. I was concerned about feeding raw chicken but after contacting the company (which made your list this year, giving me more reason to have confidence in them) I decided to carry on. I’ll be sending an email to Governor Kotek and hope many others will follow suit.
Jody Teiche
December 30, 2024 at 7:38 pm
Thank you, once again, Susan, for an important piece. It should be shocking, but corruption runs so deep in this and so many food and drug arenas that I’m disgusted but not shocked. Sad that I’m not. Unreal.
Anna Woodcock
December 30, 2024 at 8:19 pm
This is truly tragic all around. As a retailer that lived thru DCM and the ensuing panic I’m having definite ptsd . So many questions! Thanks for digging for the truth.
LG
December 30, 2024 at 8:48 pm
In “real life”, whether business or private, when you damage someone’s reputation, affect their income/profits/sales, etc., it makes for a compelling reason for a lawsuit.
Just saying…
Susan Thixton
December 30, 2024 at 9:12 pm
I couldn’t agree more. I believe pet owners should be able to sue Oregon Department of Agriculture too!
Maryou
December 30, 2024 at 9:40 pm
Not to mention the farmers..
Samantha
December 31, 2024 at 7:28 am
I miss my cat dearly still mourning over this tragedy it hurts
Sad to say, these people probably wants us all dead aswell
😢
Chris
December 31, 2024 at 10:45 am
Why did Northwest Naturals pet food initiated a recall if their own testing found it did not contain any HPAI?
Did they test before and do they test now?
Can APAI survive in freeze dried food and is it a legitimate threat to cats?
This article seemed to be more about the government and not about cats.
When was erring on the side of caution when it comes to pets a bad thing.
If there is a problem with the food, why are we focusing on the problem with the DoA?
They recalled one batch and maybe that saved some cats, maybe it saved some elderly cat owners or human children.
Sometimes ‘maybe’ is a strong argument.
Susan Thixton
December 31, 2024 at 11:59 am
Companies are often bullied by regulatory to recall. In this instance, Northwest Naturals did not have to recall the pet food based on testing of an opened sample (that could have been contaminated from outside sources). For everyone’s protection, no company should recall until proper testing is performed (plus it is a legal requirement of recalls). Forcing a recall over bad science does no one any good – provides no protection of the public.
LT
December 31, 2024 at 1:21 pm
Isn’t it better to be safe than sorry? If a cat was killed by a food I was feeding my own cats, I’d want that food recalled ASAP until the situation was adequately assessed. The health of cats is more important than the company’s reputation. The company is not disputing that the virus came from the turkey in their food. According to their website, they don’t know how that happened. They say the rest of their food is safe because . . . they have no information otherwise. That’s not satisfactory to me! I’m back to feeding canned food until this is sorted out.
I honestly don’t see how the Oregon D of A had any choice but to test an open package of food when a cat DIED after eating it. The viral DNA in the cat and the food was a match. Why is that cause for lawsuits and insults? When people died of poisoned Tylenol, no one threatened lawsuits because the company tests the opened bottles! The lawsuits were because of deaths.
I wrote a long comment here last night and I don’t see it here. I hope that you are continuing to put cats’ health first! A raw diet of poultry or beef (and who knows what else, given the possibility of cross-contamination) is truly no longer completely safe from bird-flu contamination. I hate that, but I have to accept it as a fact until companies can do better with testing and processing.
Susan Thixton
December 31, 2024 at 3:38 pm
No – in this instance I don’t think it is. This caused panic all across the globe – perhaps unnecessarily. It damaged raw pet food – perhaps unnecessarily. Just as easily as Oregon tested an opened bag – they could have tested an unopened bag and this worldwide mayhem could be validated as legitimate – or prevented.
LT
December 31, 2024 at 5:15 pm
The press release on Oregon’s website says: “The Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) is alerting pet owners that samples of Northwest Naturals brand 2lb Turkey Recipe raw & frozen pet food tested positive for a H5N1 strain of the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) virus. 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 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.”
Please tell me how you found that they only tested one open package? It says “samples.” Did you read something different? To me, it sounds like they tested “samples” and not just one package, and that they determined from testing that one entire batch should be recalled.
In this case, given that someone’s beloved cat died, I continue to think raw pet food was damaged — or exposed — for just cause. I fed my cats NW Naturals freeze-dried poultry flavors with confidence until last week, but I can no longer do it. I’m not happy about it, but that’s beside the point.
I’m in touch with my local, independent pet food store, which specializes in raw diets, and no one seems to be panicking or dealing with mayhem. They are monitoring the situation and warning us honestly that raw food may no longer be safe from the avian virus. They are trying to get useful answers from all of their brands about processing, testing, and safety. They are doing the right thing, and they are not casting blame on anyone, including those in Oregon who have a duty to keep the public and their animals safe.
My friends who also feed raw food are regrouping and trying to find safe alternatives. We’re all hoping this is a temporary situation. Our vets are all sounding the alarm about raw food — and this time, we can’t argue.
I admire the work you do, Susan, and I have subscribed to your List for many years, because I care about what I feed to my five cats. “Truth About Pet Food,” should give us the entire truth, even when it isn’t pleasant, and most especially when lives may be at stake — at least one has already been lost. “Perhaps unnecessarily” struck me as surprising, given that you value cats’ lives as much as you do. I look forward to some clarification about just what was tested in Oregon and I hope you will correct me if I am wrong.
With respect,
Susan Thixton
January 1, 2025 at 11:20 am
I have been in direct contact with NW Naturals since this incident was announced. The manufacturer was informed by Oregon Department of Agriculture that the only testing performed was on the open bag of cat food provided by the pet owner. Because Oregon Department of Agriculture continues to ignore my requests for more information (multiple phone calls to multiple individuals made on 12/30/24 and again on 12/31/24. One representative told me “I don’t have to take this from you” when I was only asking for confirmation if their testing was on an opened product), the only individual that is being transparent with me is the manufacturer. Please don’t misinterpret what I am saying…IF an unopened product tests positive for HPAI, yes – the food should be recalled. But, if an unopened product tests negative – this recall should absolutely be retracted.
Oregon also misspoke stating this cat “was strictly an indoor cat”. I have information that evidences the opposite. This pet family appeared to be tremendous pet parents and included their cat on outdoor adventures, including visits to state parks. Because of this cat’s exposure to the outdoors, the need of testing an unopened product is even more necessary.
Something to consider…this pet food is manufactured in a licensed USDA human food facility under constant USDA inspection. IF the USDA believed this facility produced a product that was HPAI positive, don’t you think USDA would have been the one to issue a recall of all products manufactured there? That has not happened, USDA has not issued any recall notice for this human food facility.
I encourage you and everyone to write/call Oregon Department of Agriculture asking them for details.
LT
January 1, 2025 at 11:59 am
Whoa! Thank you for clarifying that! That’s truly bizarre, poor science, but the fact that the viral DNA in the food matched the viral DNA in the cat (as they claim) still worries me a great deal.
I am relieved that you were able to talk to NWN directly and that they were honest with you. I wish you and them all the best in dealing the Oregon DoA. They have no justification for withholding information from you or treating you poorly.
I really hope that NWN will give us more clarification about how their processing of dehydrated food deactivates the virus. My cats love that food and I’m afraid to feed it to them until I have more information. Right now, there isn’t any. Thank you!
Barbara Fellnermayr
December 31, 2024 at 3:41 pm
There are procedures and processes in place for a reason. Did these government officials not get the binder or digital file? Did they not have time to read/understand the procedures and UNDERSTAND why they are essential? Or were they turning a blind eye to the procedures to help their buddies in BIG pet food?
As raw becomes more accepted it cuts into krapple sales, even if only a little bit. Is there any relationship/connection between the government officials and BIG pet food? Never underestimate the levels to which they will sink to protect their territory.
The BIG pet food manufacturers use ingredients that are not human-grade. They will use any cheap garbage to keep their food cheap. I predict that this is the first of many recalls due to avian flu. If you look at the volume of past recalls (kibble vs raw) the worst is yet to come.
Please, make sure, (whatever food you feed) is made from human-grade ingredients. If you’re concerned about avian flu (as you should be) change your protein to beef, lamb, kangaroo or fish.
Best wishes for a safe, happy & healthy New Year.
Bren
January 1, 2025 at 1:41 am
This just goes to show you how corrupt our State/Federal Agencies are. This goes much deeper, from destroying the “raw feeding” narrative, to vaccinating dairy cows for Bird Flu.
Northwest Naturals should definitely sue them for defamation. We, as raw advocates, need to get out there and set the record straight by contacting every animal podcast we can.
Questions that still need answering:
1 – did the cat that died have any co-morbidities?
2 – had the cat been to the Vet’s Office recently?
3 – does the cat have access to the outdoors? (I know they said house cat, but it needs to be narrowed down)
4 – what kind of testing did they do exactly? PCR’s can only tell you if the DNA/RNA material is present, it cannot tell you if that DNA caused disease, or if the virus is even active (like modified-live and killed viruses in vaccines).
Thank you Susan for all you do!!!
Indiah
January 1, 2025 at 11:05 am
Susan here is what everyone needs to understand about literally EVERY aspect of OREGON. First – the Oregon Dept of Ag is as corrupt as all the suspect federal agencies combined. They wage psyops (disinformation) campaigns. They see to it that laws, regulations, and ordinances are passed pro-business and completely anti-consumer. Contacting the ODA with a question invariably results in stonewalling. Don’t get me started on the rest of Oregon, its government, and worst of all most of the people here. I moved here three decades ago – worst decision in my entire LIFE and have been stuck because the ECONOMY here is SO BAD that in 30 years of spectacularly lousy employment compensation I have been unable to save enough to MOVE AWAY. Everyone outside of Oregon is led to believe that Oregon is “liberal.” IT IS NOT. In point of fact it is run and run HARD by extreme rightwing factions including a group of billionaire vulture capitalists and private equity – both of whom have co-opted every form of health care INCLUDING VETERINARY MEDICINE by allowing corporate and private equity takeovers. State law even prevents transparent product labeling in favor of manufacturers and distributors who favor profit over people and especially profit over ANIMALS. DON’T FOR ONE MINUTE BELIEVE ANYTHING GOOD ABOUT OREGON BECAUSE THERE ACTUALLY IS NOTHING WHATSOEVER “GOOD” ABOUT OREGON. Don’t be fooled!!!
LT
January 1, 2025 at 11:52 am
Can you please reprint here the information from the Oregon DoA and/or NWN that convinced you that they only tested the one opened bag, and not other unopened bags from that infected batch of frozen turkey, or other poultry flavors processed on similar dates? It would be highly unprofessional if that’s all that happened, but I have not found such a statement, from the few sources I’ve been able to access, that says that the one bag was all that they tested.
Also, have you seen any reliable studies that show that freeze-dried raw food is treated or processed in a way that deactivates the avian flu virus? I can’t find any information about this, and I have asked NWN and not received an answer (nor is it in their FAQs). Please let us know how we can know that freeze-dried raw cat food is safe from this virus. Thank you!
Susan Thixton
January 1, 2025 at 4:04 pm
Should Oregon ever respond – it will be shared.
LT
January 2, 2025 at 1:02 pm
I combed the NW Naturals website again and found information about their high-pressure cold processing that I “think” indicates that they do this to all of their raw food first, before it is processed further — grinding, mixing in nutrients, preparing it for dehydration, packaging, etc. I wouldn’t say the description is crystal clear. And while it’s reassuring that they are indicating that ALL raw food gets treated the same way, we still have the issue of whether the avian flu virus is deactivated by HPCP. And it seems that we have some proof that it doesn’t work.
Keep in mind that NWN uses human-grade meat, has USDA staff on site all the time, and has worked very hard to perfect their HPCP technique. If they are following all best practices and still had a failure, that’s major. (And they say that their turkey caused the illness in that cat.)
Someone sent me a link to a recent webinar for cat shelters and rescues, where vets from the U. of Wisconsin’s Shelter Medicine Program gave their best advice, described the illness (which can look similar to rabies), and talked about how to be prepared for it in multi-cat settings and clinics, how to protect other cats from infection, how to handle testing and reporting, etc. Afterward, someone asked about feeding raw food and the vet simply said that it’s known that cats have been infected from eating raw food, and advised against feeding it.
T Allen
January 2, 2025 at 9:39 am
That contact info for the Governor “share your opinion” link is region blocked. If you don’t live in OR don’t bother. You’ll have to call.
Susan Thixton
January 2, 2025 at 11:04 am
It worked for me several days ago. Perhaps they edited the page after receiving a number of questions from pet owners.
Kathy
January 2, 2025 at 11:16 am
I was able to comment and can still access the page. At the top it says “We hear you. However, due to the volume of messages received, we are unable to respond to your message”. I don’t recall if I saw this when I posted my comment. Typically when you send a comment to a government official the least you get is an auto reply, but I didn’t get one.