An Oregon pet food company issued a voluntary recall after a domestic cat died after eating its products and tested positive. bird fluand the company claims the same contaminated batch was sold in British Columbia.
Northwest Naturals in Portland, Oregon, said in a statement that it was recalling a two-pound batch of its Feline Turkey Recipe frozen raw pet food after testing positive for the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus.
The company says the same product has been sold in several states, including California, Colorado, Washington and British Columbia in Canada.
The Oregon Department of Agriculture said in a warning issued Thursday that tests confirm a Washington County domestic cat was infected with H5N1 and died after consuming frozen raw pet food sold by Northwest Naturals.
The test results triggered a nationwide voluntary recall, with the company alerting consumers to check their products.
The recall applies to products packaged in two-pound plastic bags with expiration dates between May 21, 2026 and June 23, 2026.
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Northwest Naturals says customers who purchased the recalled product should immediately throw it away.
Dr. Ryan Scholz, state veterinarian with the Oregon Department of Agriculture, said in a statement that he is convinced that this cat contracted bird flu from eating raw, frozen food from Northwest Naturals, from especially since this cat was “strictly an indoor cat”. » who could not have been exposed to the virus in their living environment.
The Oregon Department of Agriculture says that to date, no human cases of avian flu have been linked to the incident.
It also says this case reminds pet owners that feeding raw meat to their pets can lead to serious illness and that these harmful pathogens, including H5N1, can be destroyed when meat is properly cooked.
Health Canada has not officially recalled the products and has not yet responded to media inquiries.
Shawn Hall of the BC Poultry Association says the province has seen 74 poultry farms infected this year.
“Over the last half of December, we started to see cases decline,” he said.
“We haven’t had any cases since Monday. It is therefore too early to say that the epidemic is over this year. But we are cautiously optimistic that we are moving in the right direction.”
He says since the rise in bird flu cases in Washington state in October, the province has maintained its highest levels of biosecurity, limiting visits to poultry farms, wearing appropriate protective equipment and ensuring that vehicles and machinery are thoroughly cleaned.
He says rapid testing has allowed farms to quickly detect an outbreak and prevent its spread.
Hall says despite the pet food recall, food safety is not an issue in the province.
“Commercial poultry farms in British Columbia are subject to strict biosecurity measures with very high levels of monitoring of sick animals and known sick animals simply do not enter the food system, either for humans or for pets on commercial farms,” he said.
It encourages Canadians to maintain good cleaning and cooking processes when handling poultry, including cooking meat thoroughly and disinfecting kitchen spaces.