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America has been dealing with a bird flu outbreak for some time, and now fears over possible contamination in cat food have led to a recall. Heres what to know about the recall of cat food linked to possible bird flu contamination. Whats happened? On March 1, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published a recall notice relating to certain products sold by Wild Coast LLC (dba Wild Coast Raw) of Olympia, Washington. The recalled products are raw pet food for cats. The reason? The products may be contaminated with Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) H5N1, better known as bird flu. The bird flu virus can live in manufactured products, including pet food that has been made with contaminated birds. The notice posted on the FDAs website expands on a mid-February public health alert from the Washington State Department of Agriculture warning that it found the presence of HPAI in multiple cats and the same cat food they consumed. That cat food was Wild Coast LLC Boneless Free Range Chicken Formula with lot numbers #22660 and #22664 and the Best By Date 12/2025, according to the notice. However, the notice posted on the FDAs website on March 1 widens the list of products that could be affected. That notice is about a voluntary recall initiated by Wild Coast LLC. What cat food products are included in the recall? According to the recall notice posted on the FDA website, Wild Coast LLC’s voluntary recall covers the following: Brand name: Wild Coast Raw Product Description: Frozen Boneless Free Range Chicken Formula raw pet food for cats product. Best Buy date: 12/25 Lid numbers: #22660, #22653, #22641, #22639, #22672 and #22664 Images of the product packaging can be found here and here. The notice posted on the FDAs website says that owners who have had the recalled pet food in their possession should remain alert for symptoms of bird flu in both their pets and other people. What are the symptoms of bird flu in pets? According to the notice on the FDAs website, symptoms of the bird flu in pets include: fever lethargy low appetite reddened or inflamed eyes discharge from the eyes and nose difficulty breathing tremors stiff body movements seizure lack of coordination blindness The notice states that you should contact a veterinarian if you observe these symptoms in your pets. What are the symptoms of bird flu in people? According to the notice posted on the FDAs website, symptoms of bird flu in humans include: eye redness or irritation (conjunctivitis) cough sore throat sneezing runny/stuffy nose muscle/body aches headaches fatigue fever trouble breathing seizures rash diarrhea nausea vomiting People who experience symptoms are urged to contact their local health department and healthcare provider. What do I do if I have the recalled product? You should not serve it to your pets or any other animal. Also, do not donate or sell the recalled products. Instead, you should securely dispose of it in a way so no animals, including wildlife, can consume it. You are also urged to wash your hands and thoroughly sanitize any surfaces the product or its packaging have come into contact with. Those with questions can contact Wild Coast Raw at (360) 591-3543 or email them at info@wildcoastraw.com.
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E-Commerce
Over the past decade, as I’ve curated this annual list of best bags, there’s been a strong focus on utility. But this year, bag designers are eager to create bags that make a statement, while also improving women’s lives with useful features. In some ways, the bag industry is coming full circle. When I first started working on this list, the bag industry was dominated by big brands like Coach and Kate Spade that were more concerned with fashion than function. But then, a new generation of direct-to-consumer brands like Dagne Dover, Cuyana, and Senreve popped up, creating bags full of features like laptop and water bottle sleeves that helped women get through busy days. In some ways, these startups changed the entire universe of bag designs. Now, functionality is table stakes for bag designers, says Karla Gallardo, co-founder and CEO of Cuyana. The trick is creating a highly functional bag that’s also spectacular. Many new bags on the market today are meant to stand out and allow the wearer to express herself. They come in architectural shapes, with interesting silhouettes. But they are all designed to get you from packed days at work to the weekend to your long flight. Here is our pick of the best work-life bags of 2025. And they all happened to be created by women-owned startups. Cuyana Mila Satchel, $798 If you’re looking for a bag that will make an impression, consider the Mila. It’s the kind of structurally gorgeous bag that will elevate your look as you go in to an important board or investor meeting. Cuyana spends many years designing bags, then testing them with customers to continue making tweaks and improvements. This particular bag is specifically designed for travelers. It has a travel sleeve that fits over luggage and importantly, it has a wide base so it can sit under the seat in front of you. And you can carry it two ways, with the wide short handles or with a strap that you can clip on. When it opens, everything is easily accessible and visible. There’s a slot for your laptop, as well as pockets for your phone and a clip for your key. You can even purchase a clutch that clips into Mila, so you can leave the big bag at home and take the smaller bag out to dinner. The whole system is designed to save you time on high-pressure days. Parker Thatch Jane, starting at $698 These days, with hybrid work, the amount we need to carry every day varies tremendously. Some days, you need to carry your laptop and files, the next day, you might just need a wallet and chapstick. Parker Thatch, a California-based label, believes your bag should magically shrink and expand depending on what you’re doing for the day. That’s precisely what it has achieved with its Jane bag. It’s made from soft, buttery leather that can fit a large laptop. But when the bag isn’t full, it collapses in an elegant way that gives you a relaxed, put together look. It comes in a wide range of colors to suit different aesthetics. The navy and espresso will fit into a more formal workplace, but you can also opt for leopard print, platinum, or camo with a red stripe if you want to go bolder. Clare V. Bateau Tote, $475 For another collapsible bag, Clare V.’s Bateau tote also has an amazing ability to transform. On the surface, it has a simple tote silhouette that can fit a laptop along with everything you might need for your workday. It has an over the shoulder strap for easy carrying. But when you don’t need to fill it up, can collapse the tote into a much smaller bag by bringing the two edges together. You can then carry it with short handles which happen to have the word Ciao on them, in a quirky bohemian style Clare V. is known for. This tote is very practical, but it is also fun and unique. As icing on the cake, this bag has a gorgeous texture that weaves two colors of blue together to create a checker pattern. Oleada Wavia Bag Plus, starting at $635 If you need to head to the office every day and are constantly on the road for business trips, you need a bag that will allow you to easily carry a lot of heavy items, including your laptop and documents. There are many travel brands that sell products that do the job, but they don’t look stylish. Oleada’s Wavia bag wants to be both. It has clean lines and a curved wave design, and it is packed with useful features. It can be carried as a backpack, a shoulder bag, a cross-body and a handbag. It has a luggage sleeve that allows you to put it on your rolling luggage. And even has a lock closure to keep the bag securely closed. Since the bag is designed around your laptop, it comes in two sizes: 13 inch and 16 inch. You can get it in either leather or a vegan synthetic material that comes in a wide range of colors. And importantly, no matter what material you choose, the bag is very light, weighing in at around 2 lbs. Linquist Hilma, $750 Linquist, a studio studio based in Rhode Island, creates bags that are inspired by works of art. The Hilma, for instance, is designed around by the pleasing shape of an ellipse, with an oval base and a gradually widening top. The bag is named after Hilma af Klint, a Swedish artist who was among the first abstract artists in Western art history. Her paintings are grounded in geometric shapes, exploring how these figures appear both in the body and in the natural world. The Hilma bag is big enough to get you through busy days, and it is designed to be worn for a long time. It is handmade in Rhode Island by a team of artisans, and crafted from full grain Vachetta leather that is not treated with preservatives or chemicals. Over time, the material is designed to patina as it is exposed to your hands and the elements. It comes in a wide array of colors, but because it is made in small batches, different colors are available at different times.
Category:
E-Commerce
There are a few workplace topics that consistently bring out strong feelings, and performance reviews is at the top of that list. While most people would agree that its a good thing to have a tool to measure how employees are doing at their jobs, and a time for managers to discuss career advancement, very few seem to think that the way performance reviews are currently set up is working. In fact, a Gallup survey last year found that only 2% of human resource officers at major companies think their performance management system is working and just 22% of workers felt their review process was “fair and transparent.” One of the biggest complaints employees have about performance reviews is that they are so subjective. What it takes to be considered good at your job or eligible for a raise or promotion is often down to the opinions of just a couple of people. That means its a fertile ground for bias.So, if both employees and leadership think performance reviews are broken, could artificial intelligence be the magic bullet that fixes it? The new crop of startups selling AI-powered performance management tools certainly thinks so. But is it just swapping human bias for AI bias? Is something as nebulous as being “good at your job” quantifiable? And are humans ready to be evaluated by a robot? On the latest episode of The New Way We Work, I spoke to Bryan Ackerman, head of AI strategy and transformation at the management consulting firm Korn Ferry. He explained the benefits and drawbacks of using technology in both performance reviews and layoffs. Ackerman says that when considering introducing AI into performance reviews its important to start by asking the right questions: What is the fundamental thing we’re trying to change? There are lots of pain points with performance reviews, but AI isnt suited to fix them all. Here’s what it can do. How AI can help the performance review process Efficiency: One of the most straightforward ways that AI can help improve the performance review process is efficiency. Ackerman notes that managers can use generative AI to help draft reviews from their notes, but its only good as a starting point. Since the manager still needs to edit the draft to make it meaningful, that can end up not really saving any time.On both the employees and manager side, AI is good at putting in data and quantifying it (for example sales numbers) but again, its subject to the quality and accessibility of that kind of data. Making reviews more understandable: One of the biggest issues with performance reviews is how subjective and arbitrary ranking systems feel. Ackerman says there’s potential for AI to help employers to standardize and be more transparent about rankings and use AI note taking apps to help serve as a jumping-off point for conversions. Assistance with career development: Ackerman thinks the most useful way that AI could help in performance reviews is by using it as a way to get reviews back to their original intention: as a career development tool. AI has the potential to help managers deliver better and more effective feedback, he says. What AI cant help with There are pitfalls to using AI in performance reviews, Ackerman says, especially if you’re relying on it too heavily. It can give you too much data to work with, or create more of a problem than it solves, if the data quality isn’t great, he says. The question [is] are we making a manager’s life easier or harder?Relying blindly on AI also has the potential to exacerbate the problems with performance reviews. Is adding more data into the mix, making this process easier and more efficient and more consistent and safer and [with] less bias? Or is it just adding complexity that then the manager is somehow supposed to still make sense around? he says.The bottom line is to not remove the human conversation and nuance from the process and instead use AI as a tool to help where it can.Listen to the full episode for more on the pros and cons of introducing AI into the review process, where he thinks things are going in the next few years, and if AI will be used in layoff decisions. You can listen and subscribe to The New Way We Work on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, RadioPublic, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Category:
E-Commerce
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