Wild Coast Raw, a pet food company based in Olympia, Washington, has issued a voluntary recall of certain lots of its frozen raw cat food due to an outbreak strain of H5 avian flu. The affected products, boneless free-range chicken formula, were distributed to retailers in Oregon and Washington. Six lots with December 25 best buy dates are under recall.
The initial alert was made by Washington’s agriculture department in February, but more cases of domestic cat illnesses have been reported since then. This is not the first time a raw pet food brand has linked H5 avian flu to cat illnesses; California officials earlier this year tied it to another locally produced brand, and Oregon health officials recently identified an outbreak from Northwest Naturals.
In other news, the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has confirmed more H5N1 detections in poultry from backyard birds in New York, North Carolina, and Ohio.
Source: https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/avian-influenza-bird-flu/h5n1-findings-prompt-another-raw-pet-food-recall