FDA reminds pet food makers that raw ingredients pose risk of exposure to H5N1

Federal agencies are tightening regulations on raw pet food ingredients due to the risk of highly pathogenic avian influenza (type A H5N1) transmission.

Recent investigations have pointed to raw meat, specifically poultry, and unpasteurized milk as a source of infection for cats, both domestic and wild, which can experience severe illness or death from infection with the virus.

Dogs can also contract H5N1, although they usually exhibit mild clinical signs and low mortality.

"During the fall migratory season, H5N1 detections typically increase throughout the United States in wild birds, with potential spread to commercial and backyard poultry flocks," according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Veterinary Medicine.

With that in mind, on September 30, the agency issued a reminder to pet food manufacturers that H5N1 is a "known or reasonably foreseeable hazard" when using uncooked or unpasteurized ingredients.

Under the agency's Food Safety Modernization Act Preventive Controls for Animal Food requirements, animal food businesses must conduct a reanalysis of their food safety plan when the FDA determines it is necessary to respond to new hazards and developments in scientific understanding.

Earlier this year, the FDA determined that food safety plans of manufacturers that specifically use uncooked or unpasteurized materials from poultry or cattle should include H5N1 as a potential hazard and implement preventive controls as needed. This could include seeking ingredients from healthy flocks or herds, taking processing steps such as heat treatment, or implementing a supply chain-applied control to provide assurance that ingredients used in animal food do not come from H5N1-infected animals.

"Manufacturers that implement a preventive control for the H5N1 hazard as a result of their reanalysis will be taking an important step toward protecting cat and dog health and helping to prevent spread of H5N1," according to the FDA.