Issued today, January 17, 2025, the FDA is requiring pet food manufacturers to perform a processing step (such as cooking) on raw animal ingredients in pet foods. For raw pet foods, the FDA is requiring manufacturers to include H5N1 (avian flu) as a “reasonably foreseeable hazard” in their Preventive Controls, which would require manufacturers to “implement a supply-chain-applied control” (such as testing raw ingredients).
FDA shared: “The FDA is tracking cases of H5N1 in domestic and wild cats in California, Colorado, Oregon and Washington State that are associated with eating contaminated food products. Scientific information is evolving, but at this time it is known that H5N1 can be transmitted to cats and dogs when they eat products from infected poultry or cattle (e.g., unpasteurized milk, uncooked meat, or unpasteurized eggs) that have not undergone a processing step that is capable of inactivating the virus, such as pasteurizing, cooking or canning. Cats (domestic and large felids) in particular can experience severe illness or death from infection with H5N1. Dogs can also contract H5N1, although they usually exhibit mild clinical signs and low mortality compared to cats. At present, H5N1 has not been detected in dogs in the United States, but there have been fatal cases in other countries.“
Concerned pet owners can (in a way) follow FDA’s advice with their pet’s food. If you feed your pet’s raw and are worried, you have the option of cooking it prior to feeding it to your pet. Please ask your pet food manufacturer first if cooking their raw pet food is appropriate. With raw milk products, only raw cow milk has been linked to Avian Flu. To current day, raw goat milk has not.
Personal opinion: Prevention has been reported to be the focus of FDA since the enactment of the Food Safety Modernization Act in 2011. While today’s step from FDA is a preventive action, the agency waited (and waited) to require pet food manufacturers to take prevention steps. USDA as well. Both agencies hold a certain amount of responsibility that the current situation of Avian Flu in the US has gotten to the point it has. The FDA’s and USDA’s ‘wait and see’ lack of action for years is in part why today’s action is – as my Dad used to say – ‘a day late and a dollar short’. Today’s action by FDA should have happened years ago (but at least they took action now). Proactive regulators and manufacturers is exactly what we need.
Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,
Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
Association for Truth in Pet Food
Become a member of our pet food consumer Association. Association for Truth in Pet Food is a a stakeholder organization representing the voice of pet food consumers at AAFCO and with FDA. Your membership helps representatives attend meetings and voice consumer concerns with regulatory authorities. Click Here to learn more.
What’s in Your Pet’s Food?
Is your dog or cat eating risk ingredients? Chinese imports? Petsumer Report tells the ‘rest of the story’ on over 5,000 cat foods, dog foods, and pet treats. 30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee. Click Here to preview Petsumer Report. www.PetsumerReport.com
Find Healthy Pet Foods in Your Area Click Here
The 2025 List
Susan’s List of trusted pet foods. Click Here to learn more.
The 2024/25 Treat List
Susan’s List of trusted pet treat manufacturers. Click Here to learn more.
Judy
January 17, 2025 at 2:38 pm
Thank you for this update.
Samuel Rosoff
January 17, 2025 at 3:10 pm
It’s irresponsible to tell people to cook raw dog food. Most raw dog food has ground bone which cannot be cooked.
Susan Thixton
January 17, 2025 at 3:58 pm
It depends on the manufacturer/brand. Which is why I suggested to pet owners to ask their manufacturer if cooking is appropriate.
T Allen
January 19, 2025 at 9:14 am
Bone meal is cooked finely ground bone. It’s in most commercial cooked pet foods as a source of calcium. Susan is right. Talk to the manufacturer if they say they are grinding their own bone. It all depends on the size of the bone fragments and type of bone.
alexis
January 17, 2025 at 3:34 pm
died with or from? who did the testing? at this point i do not trust. i consider all of the agencies corrupt and demand proof and not the worn out fear porn. even if this virus can pose a threat for certain animals pet food is and has been killing a lot more animals for decades. as owners it is up to us to remain clear headed, consider the overall health status of our animals and carefully weigh the pros and cons of the choices we make for them. as long as the government is funding and running gain-of-function research labs i find any claim of concern an insult to my intelligence. i am a cynic. my first thought: finally a way to gain control of pet food outside the mega corporations.
stay calm, research and take deep breaths. don’t just obey for the sake of being an obedient member of the herd. fear is a lousy consultant.
Sue
January 18, 2025 at 4:33 am
Great comment. Bullseye!
Susan Porter
January 19, 2025 at 3:26 am
The H5N1 has indeed undergone gain of function laboratory manipulation to “make it more virulent to Mallard Ducks” (quote from Dr. Judy Morgan, DVM on her podcast on the topic). This seems so crazy but I looked it up and what I am finding are a number of articles reporting this nonchalantly as if GOF to make natural viruses more virulent is an expected and good thing. Seriously???
T Allen
January 19, 2025 at 6:05 pm
Highly likely this fake news. The “sources” are all opinions and her “research” appears to be linked to a Foundation started as an anti-covid group. Getting conned online these days can happen to anyone.
T Allen
January 19, 2025 at 9:17 am
I pray you don’t find out your truth at the expense of your cats lives. 🙁
Candice Morales
January 17, 2025 at 3:44 pm
Everyone one of your blessed members benefits from your research, thank you again Susan! I learn so much from your article shares and the comment section responses so may I ask all you guys if everyone is feeling confident about THE LIST’s feline in particular raw/dehydrated, (poultry included) etc. food/treats because of the wonderful sourcing/testing I believe…
kay
January 17, 2025 at 3:53 pm
The FDA is tracking cases of H5N1, is more BS. Please research virus and bacteria and know a virus, especially one that does not exist. Time for FEAR again.
Jill Beaton
January 18, 2025 at 12:40 am
If this virus was really a problem. Wouldn’t we be seeing a large increase in wild feline deaths? Bobcats, Mt lions, cougars etc? There had been no reports of that. They surely are exposed and eat wild birds. Also not a huge increase in deaths from people’s domestic outdoor cats who catch and eat wild birds. Susan, it seems you have done a huge 180 since your last talk about the bird flu. What happened?
T Allen
January 19, 2025 at 9:26 am
Maybe you should do some research before you jump on the conspiracy bandwagon? https://www.newsweek.com/bird-flu-mountain-lion-cougar-death-washington-state-2005687
“The mountain lions, also often referred to as cougars or pumas, are the first documented cases of bird flu in mountain lions in Washington, though similar incidents have been reported in other states.
The virus, known as Type A H5N1, has been circulating in the region since 2022 and has increasingly affected wildlife, including mammals.”
Sue
January 18, 2025 at 4:30 am
Completely agree. Why on earth would anyone trust the highly corrupt FDA??? This is an agency who “approved” poison injections for everyone including pregnant women and infants 6 months and up. Millions of Americans have been injured and killed by FDA approved shots.
Yes, time for FEAR again, in what will be an endless cycle. They will succeed in the needless slaughtering of millions of chickens and cattle, creating food shortages of meat and eggs. All to “keep us safe”.
And then they will come for our beloved four legged family members, warning they will spread “avian flu” to humans.
Please see this for what it is – yet another contrived crisis to continue wreaking havoc on our lives and hearts.
Shumidog
January 17, 2025 at 4:12 pm
If you have a sous vide machine, you can pasteurize eggs, etc. yourself. You can find time and temperature at both USDA, and douglasbaldwin.com.
Barbara Fellnermayr
January 17, 2025 at 4:16 pm
What about raw pet food that doesn’t use poultry or beef? We have lamb from New Zealand, kangaroo from Australia and fish from the Pacific Ocean.
Susan Thixton
January 17, 2025 at 4:25 pm
You will need to ask FDA about that, I don’t have answers for you.
Arlene Coleman
January 17, 2025 at 4:29 pm
I recently purchased some freeze dried raw food for my cats. Is there any way to make this safe for my cats?
Susan Thixton
January 17, 2025 at 4:35 pm
Most freeze dried pet foods are treated with HPP which should kill the virus. You can ask your manufacturer if they use HPP on the freeze dried products.
Brock
January 17, 2025 at 10:34 pm
Northwest Naturals HPPs, yet they recalled due to bird flu. Seeing info from BSM and other vets in industry, there does not appear to be any certainty on how effective HPP is in eliminating this strain. The only data I’ve seen is on the H5 variant. Freeze Drying does not eliminate, so it’s risky to trust the HPP process until more research is done.
Bethany
January 17, 2025 at 4:37 pm
My raw cat food suppliers are already testing. Does this require anything beyond that?
Kathy
January 17, 2025 at 4:46 pm
I’m confused – will raw pet foods now be required to be both tested and cooked? The food I feed uses a lactic acid wash, is that considered a processing step that will eliminate bird flu?
T Allen
January 19, 2025 at 2:55 pm
Suppliers will need to their ingredients, not the finished product.Yet. Eventually, as this virus spreads, they most like will have to either cook or use HPP to kill the virus. Lactic acid wash only cleans the outside of a carcass. Viruses are inside the meat so it won’t effect them. 🙁
T Allen
January 19, 2025 at 2:46 pm
For more info: https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2025/01/fda-raises-the-bar-for-cat-and-dog-food-makers-regarding-bird-flu-in-products/#more-246415
Bethany
January 20, 2025 at 3:41 pm
Because my cats’ raw meat is defrosted and cold out of the fridge, I gently warm it up to make it palatable (like a fresh kill). I sit the bowls in very hot water in the sink for no more than a couple of minutes while I mix the food. I sometimes notice that the meat slightly browns as I do so. Does anyone know if this is “cooking” the meat to the degree that it kills viruses?
Jody
February 17, 2025 at 9:24 pm
My understanding at this point is that heating to 165 F. kills the H1N1 virus.
I am grateful for any up to date, reliable, scientifically oriented information about H1N1, and in this forum, particularly in regard to cats, which are very susceptible to this virus because of two receptor sites they carry, whether wild or domestic. And I’m not talking about fear – I’m talking about common sense preventative health practices in accord with what is known as there is more testing and more information. I don’t want to risk my own life unnecessarily, and I feel the same about my cat’s life.