Seoul/Vienna, 3 August 2023 – South Korea´s Ministry of Agriculture has confirmed that the recent avian influenza infection in a cat in a Seoul shelter stemmed from contaminated cat food. The manufacturer has now been ordered to “recall and destroy” all products.

Last week two cats were tested positive for the virus and only this week another one was infected.

People who have had contact with the cats in the affected shelters have not shown any symptoms.

This was the first detection of avian influenza in cats in the region since 2016. 

The South Korean Ministry of Agriculture said in a statement, "The company had not fully followed necessary sterilization steps over the course of manufacturing products since May 25th. The government ordered the company to stop producing and selling the items, and to recall and destroy them.”

The ministry has also announced that it will now have a national wide inspection of all manufacturers of animal food.

FOUR PAWS, the global animal welfare organisation, said the situation is “alarming and deeply troubling”.

“The source of this epidemic of highly pathogenic avian influenza is intensive farming. Without decisive action to reduce the numbers of animals farmed and restructure food systems, the outbreaks will continue to happen."

The incident follows a series of avian influenza infections in mammals across the world with the World Health Organisation saying the virus is “rapidly evolving”.

According to the World Organisation for Animal Health, by the end of 2022, sixty-seven countries across five continents had reported highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreaks. This tallied up to 131 million domestic poultry lost due to infection or culling. To date, a further fourteen countries have reported outbreaks as the disease continues to spread.