For the Pet Food Institute (PFI) and its members, who make most of U.S. pet food and treat products, the safety of pet food is of the highest priority. PFI is concerned that both domestic and wild cats have fallen ill or died due to both consumption of ingredients sourced from supplier farms with positive detections of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI or H5N1), as well as to exposure to affected poultry and wild birds. Amid major outbreaks of HPAI in the U.S. and worldwide, pet food makers remain committed to ensuring safe, high quality pet food for America’s dogs and cats in 82 million U.S. households.
“Pet food makers love animals, and the safety of pet food is their highest priority. They recognize the risks to pets that are associated with HPAI, and they have strict processes in place to mitigate those risks,” said PFI’s president and CEO, Dana Brooks. “In response to the HPAI outbreak, U.S. pet food makers are revisiting the food safety plans that are already being closely followed throughout the production of pet food, ensuring that they are continuing to carefully monitor for foodborne pathogens in cat and dog food.”
U.S. pet food makers are complying with all regulatory requirements, including a recent update from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that requires cat and dog food manufacturers who are covered by the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act Preventive Controls for Animal Food (PCAF) rule and using uncooked or unpasteurized materials derived from cattle or poultry to conduct a reanalysis of their food safety plans to include HPAI as a known or reasonably foreseeable hazard.
“Pet food makers are implementing supply chain controls and are actively engaging with suppliers of eggs and poultry products that are used in making nutritious pet food to both ensure that ingredients are not coming from HPAI-infected animals, and to identify ways to further alleviate risk,” said Brooks.
Pet food makers adhere to the highest standards when it comes to quality and safety, and the ingredients used to make pet food products always undergo rigorous testing and quality assurance processes throughout the production process to ensure they are safe for pets.
FDA recently issued guidance for safe pet feeding practices, which includes: “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.” Both the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) discourage the feeding of uncooked meat diets to companion animals due to the potential presence of pathogens, including H5N1.
The Global Alliance of Pet Food Associations (GAPFA) has reaffirmed the safe trade of extruded dry pet food and heat-treated poultry based on the World Organization for Animal Health’s Terrestrial Animal Health Code.
HPAI poses serious risk to companion animals, predominantly cats, from exposure to infected birds or poultry, exposure to people, clothing or fomites from affected farms, drinking unpasteurized dairy products or consuming infected raw meat.
To prevent HPAI infections in cats and dogs, pet owners should keep cats and dogs indoors, when possible, to prevent exposure to birds and other wildlife. Always wash hands thoroughly after handling pet food, treats and toys and following any encounter with poultry, livestock, wild birds and other animals. As with making any meal in the kitchen, clean counter surfaces after preparing a bowl of food. In areas of the country with recent HPAI outbreaks, keep pets away from livestock, poultry and their environments.
For more information on pet food safety and handling, please visit petfoodinstitute.org.