• Posted January 27, 2025

Bird Flu Concerns Prompt New FDA Guidance on Raw Pet Food Safety

Reports of cats becoming seriously ill or dying after consuming raw pet food or milk tainted with the deadly bird flu virus have prompted the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to urge pet food manufacturers to take extra precautions.

The FDA recently advised pet food companies to source ingredients from healthy animals and use processes such as heat treatment to inactivate any viruses.

What's more, it also urged pet owners to cook raw pet food to prevent the spread of H5N1. Also known as bird flu, it can be deadly for both cats and dogs.

“There have been several recent investigations indicating transmission of H5N1 to cats through food, most often unpasteurized milk or uncooked meats,” the FDA warning said. “H5N1 can be deadly to cats, as well as dogs, so we encourage consumers to carefully consider the risk of this emerging pathogen before feeding their pets uncooked meat or an uncooked pet food product.”

Bird flu has spread to birds in every U.S. state since 2022, and cats appear especially vulnerable to the virus. Infections have been found in both domestic and feral cats, with some falling sick after consuming contaminated raw milk or pet food.

Dr. Jane Sykes, a professor of small animal internal medicine at the University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine, said the FDA guidance lacks important details, including how to test or whether heat treatment is necessary.

“It doesn’t have any strict instructions on how to ensure there is no H5N1 in the foods,” Sykes told NBC News. 

Experts at the FDA and American Veterinary Medical Association agree that cooking pet food is a great way to ensure safety.

“Heat treatments have been shown to be effective for inactivating H5N1 in meat, milk, and egg products,” the FDA said in an advisory. “We recommend that consumers follow the USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) guidelines for handling and thorough cooking of raw meat before feeding. Animals should also be kept from hunting and consuming wild birds.”

The FDA's guidance is not mandatory, leaving companies to decide their own safety measures. 

“The companies have to decide what they want to do,” Dr. J. Scott Weese, director of the Center for Public Health and Zoonoses at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, said in a statement. “The FDA tries to stay away from dictating practices. This is a first step. If there are more cases, they may take stronger steps.”

Some pet food companies have already began implementing their own safety protocols. Instinct, a St. Louis-based raw pet food manufacturer, said it uses high-pressure processing, or pasteurization, (HPP) to eliminate pathogens.

“Like the FDA we recognize the risks of the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) and have processes in place to mitigate that risk," Brock Zentz, the senior director of food safety and quality at Instinct, said in an email to NBC News.

Experts caution, however, that high-pressure processing alone may not fully eliminate the virus. “It’s better than nothing, but if you want to be really confident, cooking is the only sure thing,” Weese concluded.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updates on bird flu. 

SOURCE: U.S. Food and Drug Administration, voluntary guidance, Jan. 17, 2025; NBC News