Pet food tainted with avian flu virus that was sold across WA, Northwest is recalled

An Oregon company that sells pet food across Washington state has issued a recall of a raw, frozen product contaminated with highly pathogenic avian influenza virus, or H5N1.

The Northwest Naturals dog and cat food was discovered to be contaminated after a cat in Washington County, Ore., died.

The Oregon Department of Agriculture said tests confirmed a genetic match between the virus in the turkey in the raw and frozen pet food and the infected cat in the county that includes part of Portland.

“We are confident that this cat contracted H5N1 by eating the Northwest Natural raw and frozen pet food,” said Ryan Scholz, the Oregon state veterinarian.

“This cat was strictly an indoor cat,” he said. “It was not exposed to the virus in its environment, and results from the genome sequencing confirmed that the virus recovered from the raw pet food and infected cat were exact matches to each other.”

Oregon public health officials are monitoring the people who lived with the cat for flu symptoms.

Northwest Naturals in Portland, Ore., has voluntarily recalled the infected product, its 2-pound Feline Turkey Recipe raw frozen pet food sold in plastic bags. The infected batches had “best if used by” dates of 5/21/26 B10 and 6/23/2026 B1.

The product is sold as cat food and as a protein boost topper for dogs, according to its packaging.

Washington, Idaho sales

Northwest Naturals products are sold at five farm supply and pet food stores in the Tri-Cities. The company also supplies stores in Tacoma, Olympia, Bellingham and also in Idaho.

Customers who have the product in their freezers should discard it and contact the store where they purchased it for a refund.

If their pet ate any of the product with the “best by” dates that have been recalled, Northwest Naturals recommends contacting a veterinarian and monitoring the pet closely.

Those with questions can contact Northwest Naturals of Portland at info@nw-naturals.net or 866-637-1872.

Northwest Naturals said it only buys human-grade raw food for its pet products.

To avoid the spread of the avian influenza virus, the Oregon Department of Agriculture recommends that people and their pets not eat raw or undercooked meat products or raw dairy products.

Thoroughly cooking meat can destroy not only the bird flu virus but also salmonella, listeria and E. coli, the agency said.

Pasteurizing milk also eliminated disease-causing pathogens, including the bird flu virus, it said.

This story was originally published January 2, 2025 at 10:57 AM.