Does raw pet food scare you? After you learn the facts, you might not be as worried.
Everywhere pet owners turn, someone is warning against giving your pet a raw pet food diet.
The FDA warns pet owners raw pet food is “Dangerous“:
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) warns raw pet food can make you or your pet sick:
And some veterinarians speak out stating pet owners should be warned about the “infectious potential” and “public health risk” of raw pet food:
Question:
How can raw pet food be considered “dangerous” and a “public health risk” when raw chicken (sold in your grocery) poses a significantly higher risk?
The USDA – the governing federal agency over raw meat in the US allows a certain percentage of meat products to be contaminated with Salmonella. For slaughter facilities, per USDA regulation – “FRN Docket No. FSIS 2014-0023” (and see chart page 10 Here), the following “Salmonella Performance Standards” are allowed for human food:
And with ground chicken, the USDA Salmonella Performance Standard:
But what about the poop?
Another argument against raw pet food, pet owners are told dangerous bacteria could be shed in your pet’s poop – causing human illness. Well…
Dog and cat poop does have the potential to contain pathogenic bacteria, but it is not nearly the risk some pose it to be. Quoting the study FDA uses to warn pet owners against raw pet food: “Fecal samples (2,965) solicited from 11 geographically dispersed veterinary testing laboratories were collected in 36 states between January 2012 and April 2014. The overall study prevalence of Salmonella in cats (3 of 542) was <1%. The prevalence in dogs (60 of 2,422) was 2.5%.”
Comparing the Salmonella risk allowed in whole chicken sold in your grocery to the Salmonella risk of picking up after your dog:
But what about that FDA pet food study?
“In a two-year study spanning from October 2010 through July 2012, the FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) screened over 1,000 samples of pet food for bacteria that can cause foodborne illnesses.” The FDA results of their study found:
Significant to note: over this two year FDA study, the agency found only 1 Salmonella positive product from testing 240 different dry cat and dog foods. These are very surprising results as during this same time frame, the largest Salmonella pet food recall in history took place. Millions of pounds of pet foods were recalled during early 2012 manufactured by Diamond Pet Food, yet FDA testing seemed to miss all those products.
That aside, the FDA states their study found 15 Salmonella positive samples of 196 raw pet foods tested. That’s 8% of raw pet food samples positive for Salmonella.
Going back to what the USDA allows into human food ground chicken products (raw pet food is ground – direct comparison):
What FDA testing found in raw pet food is significantly less than what is legally allowed by the USDA in ground raw chicken sold in groceries across the US.
The question has to be asked…
Why do (some) veterinarians, the FDA, and the CDC continue to warn pet owners that raw pet food is “dangerous” and a “public health risk” when in no uncertain terms, raw meat in your grocery poses a significantly higher risk?
The facts are: any raw meat has the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella. The same risk applies to lettuce, flour, melons, peanuts…and cat and dog poop.
Common sense – wash your hands, surfaces and kitchen tools after handling/preparing ANY raw food and picking up after your pet.
If you want to provide your pet with a raw pet food, don’t let the fear tactics of some stop you. Human grade ingredient raw pet food is no more of a risk to bring into your home than chicken, lettuce and/or melons purchased from your grocery. (The same cannot be said of feed grade ingredient raw pet food or any style of feed grade ingredient pet food.)
Human grade raw pet food means that all ingredients (including supplements) are human edible and the pet food is manufactured under USDA inspection. The pet food manufacturer is not allowed to disclose this information on the label, pet owners will need to call or email their manufacturer to ask.
What’s actually “dangerous” is an unfounded bias against one style of pet food by so many of authority. What’s certainly dangerous is any feed grade ingredient pet food that is openly allowed by all regulatory authorities to violate federal food safety laws. Pet feeds that are allowed – with no warning or disclosure to the pet owner – to contain diseased animal material and meat ingredients sourced from non-slaughtered animals…that’s what is dangerous and a public health risk.
Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,
Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
Association for Truth in Pet Food
Find Healthy Pet Foods in Your Area Click Here
Become a member of our pet food consumer Association. Association for Truth in Pet Food is a a stakeholder organization representing the voice of pet food consumers at AAFCO and with FDA. Your membership helps representatives attend meetings and voice consumer concerns with regulatory authorities. Click Here to learn more.
What’s in Your Pet’s Food?
Is your dog or cat eating risk ingredients? Chinese imports? Petsumer
Report tells the ‘rest of the story’ on over 5,000 cat foods, dog foods,
and pet treats. 30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee. Click Here to preview Petsumer Report. www.PetsumerReport.com
The 2019 List
Susan’s List of trusted pet foods. Click Here to learn more.
TB
June 10, 2019 at 1:23 pm
I have a question…why is it that the FDA site no longer has a list of the 2007 pet foods that was recalled?
Susan Thixton
June 10, 2019 at 1:29 pm
Older recalls are “archived” – here is the FDA archive link (2007 is included): https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/archive-recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts
Cannoliamo
June 10, 2019 at 1:38 pm
I sometimes have to remind myself that both dogs and cats are carnivores and have ancestrally killed their prey and eaten the raw meat.
https://kyrapets.com/dog-ate-raw-chicken/
“Canines are carnivores and raw meat eaters. Their digestive systems are able to deal with bacteria better than humans do. So a dog will not get ill because of e.coli or salmonella if they eat raw meat, including raw chicken. With their amazing digestive tract, it is capable of preventing sickness.”
It is also very likely that our pets can identify spoiled meat a lot easier than we give them credit for.
https://parade.com/118414/kaleethompson/31-battle-of-cats-vs-dogs/
“The human nose has about 5 million olfactory receptors, microscopic proteins that allow us to detect odors. With 45 million to 80 million receptors, cats have a far better sense of smell—but they can’t measure up to the average dog, whose snout holds between 149 million and 300 million receptors. The canine sense of smell may be a thousand times better than ours, and so discerning that dogs can not only track a missing person but distinguish whether he recently had a meal or smoked a cigarette. Historically, dogs relied on their superior snouts to find prey and avoid predators. These days, dogs are trained to sniff out everything from bedbug infestations to the chemical changes that indicate early-stage cancer.”
I found this Cal-DPH / FDA study interesting where scent-detection dogs were used to identify bacterial contamination in human food in the parts-per-billion range, ….
http://www.afdo.org/Resources/Documents/4-news-and-events/past-presentations/0906091400Farrar.pdf
vicki
June 11, 2019 at 5:17 pm
Thank You, Thank you! That is precisely what I was going to ask! How in the world is “Salmonella” so dangerous – when a dog is a born scavenger? We often give our dogs raw meat from the grocery store – Scraps of fat, undesirable bits and pieces and etc. And we have Never had a problem!
We have only given beef, but I know others – breeders specifically that do give raw chicken, and pork as well, from the “human” store with zero problems. How is that possible, when these “studies” keep telling us that raw is so dangerous? It seems like a lot of nonsense.
It is refreshing to hear from Susan and from you Cannoliamo, what I have suspected for a very long time. Thanks again to both of you! Vicki H. Detroit, MI
Zachary Chernik
June 13, 2019 at 8:41 am
Kibble manufacturers can mislead our 4 legged companions of what is truly good vs bad. The masking of feed. So would our companions eat today’s kibble with out PALATANTS or are they being tricked with the aroma and taste from the palatants being OK to consume?
https://www.kemin.com/ap/en/markets/petfood-rendering
A Trusted Partner in Petfood Palatability
Kemin Pet Food and Rendering Palatants
The palatability of a pet food is influenced by many factors such as the freshness of raw materials and how palatability enhancers are applied during the petfood manufacturing process. When creating a successful product, you need a trusted partner whose expertise includes ingredients, raw materials and an understanding of the behavioral differences and preferences of our end users – dogs and cats.
Drawing on technical capabilities around flavor, stabilization, pet food safety and quality, Kemin palatants are designed to meet unique customer needs. Our palatants provide taste equal to or better than competitive products. They’re also designed to ensure consistent quality, and achieve label claims important to our customers. The PALASURANCE® line of palatants contributes to the overall consumption of dry petfood diets.
PALASURANCE P Series Palatants offer a unique feature: plant-based palatability. Designed using plant proteins and Maillard technology to generate meaty aromas, P Series palatants can be used for vegetarian, limited ingredient and conventional diets alike.
Understanding Dogs and Cats
As pet owners can attest, mealtime experiences can vary depending on the breed, size and personality of your pet. While dogs are often characterized as voracious eaters, consuming large amount of anything that smells appealing, some dogs can be picky and hard to satisfy. Cats have the reputation for being particular about their food choices. Cats tend to put high value on taste, aroma and texture of their food and eat small, frequent meats through the day. At Kemin, we understand these differences and formulate PALASURANCE® palatants to appeal to the unique preferences of cats and dogs.
Treats and Supplements for Pets
In treats, our palatants enhance palatability when applied as a coating on the surface. Concentrated PALASURANCE bases are also available to include in a dry mix for a treat recipe before extrusion, injection, baking or other manufacturing processes. Some of our concentrated base formulas are available in granulated form for tableting applications.
pH-Adjuster Palatants
Palatability enhancers can provide practical benefits that go beyond taste. Kemin offers a unique pH-adjusting palatant technology that incorporates organic acids into specially designed palatability enhancers, which help pet food manufacturers balance acidification and palatability.
Kemin pH-adjuster palatants are available in a dry form and can be customized for different topical application levels. In most cases, a higher application rate is needed for higher palatability targets for both dog and cat food. PALASURANCE pH-adjuster palatants that meet both acidification and palatability targets have been designed for application rates ranging from 1.0 to 2.5 percent.
Roslyn Malysse
June 10, 2019 at 1:44 pm
Glad you posted this article Susan. As you know since Gigi’s untimely and unfortunate death, I’ve been feeding raw. I will NEVER change what I’m doing with their food and I trust my grocer and his produce manager way more than I do ANY corporate giant! Just sayin’…..
Roksanna
June 10, 2019 at 2:04 pm
Thank you for posting this!!
Sue Daley
June 10, 2019 at 2:08 pm
Just had someone tell me that if a person in the family is “immune compromised”, raw fed pets will shed bacteria and make that person sick. Any truth to this?
Susan Thixton
June 10, 2019 at 2:28 pm
Any immune compromised person could get sick from any source of bacteria. The ‘poop’ study included raw pet food fed cats and dogs – and the stats were less than 1% of samples were positive for cats and 2.5% of samples were positive for dogs. Chicken from the grocery remains a significantly higher risk.
Robin
June 11, 2019 at 1:37 pm
been feeding raw since 2005
Got cancer two and a half years ago… will continue to feed raw I guess one would think my immune system is compromised I have never had an issue nor will I ever worry about getting anything from feeding my animals Raw I got a better chance I can tracking something from someone out in public then I do for my raw feeding
Libby
June 13, 2019 at 10:32 am
It’s not just poop. A raw fed dog liked my hand. There was a tiny scratch on my hand. I didn’t know he had been fed half an hour before and I ended up with cellulitis.
Dog with big jowls and dog’s that drool, dog’s with longer hair around their mouths.. these are all places we could accidently pick up germs.
Kathy
July 12, 2019 at 9:00 am
@Libby Your celulitis has nothng to do with raw dog food. Hahaha You didn’t get cellulitis because of the dog eating raw food. Lol. You got cellulitis because bacteria(not salmonella, but rather staph bacteria) got into your cut. It could have been the dog licking you (because they carry a lot of bacteria in their mouth, no matter what they eat -raw or cooked) or it could have been any other way that you got bacteria in the cut on your skin.
Sharron Warrick
June 10, 2019 at 6:16 pm
Why not just cook the meat just like you would for yourself? I don’t eat raw meat and I wouldn’t feed it to my pets. I don’t understand the benefit of feeding raw meat to pets over cooked meat. Also, don’t you have to be careful that they are given enough taurine and other nutrients? I have books on making home-made pet food, which I’m sure is more nutritious and less dangerous than manufactured pet food, but as yet haven’t tried it. At present I have no pets and it scares me to think of what to feed one if I get another. Both my cats lived a long time – 14 and 17 until they finally suffered from uncommon cancers of the nose and pancreas and when they got really bad I reluctantly had them euthanized. I fed them what most vets told me was the worst food out there-canned Friskies and Fancy Feast. However I have read that Fancy Feast has never been recalled.Not sure if that is true, but I also fed them other things on occasion like Hill’s,Royal Canin, etc. and not only did they not really like it, it didn’t seem to be any better for them than the cheaper “junk food” they liked so much. Anyway, to each his own. I just find it all very confusing and scary.
I’ve never found a vet I could really trust either and it killed me to let any of my animals out of my sight in a vet’s office. I’ve seen and heard too many cruel things happen to animals. Yes I am paranoid and very protective of them, usually to no avail, because they’re gone now and neither one had a peaceful or easy death. I’m sorry I got off subject but I miss my babies very much. All I have left are two little canisters of ashes that I was told are theirs. Not that it matters now but I can’t even be sure it’s really their ashes in there either.
MH
June 10, 2019 at 7:02 pm
Susan, can you tell us what human grade raw pet food option are out there? I’ve yet to find one.
Susan Thixton
June 10, 2019 at 8:15 pm
Current regulations do not allow raw pet food to make the “Human Grade” claim on the pet food label like other styles of pet food are provided. The only way to know if the food is human grade is to ask if the pet food is made at a USDA facility under USDA inspection. That is the same as human food.
landsharkinnc
June 11, 2019 at 6:55 am
I purchase the meat for my dogs food at the same store I buy my groceries … from the same meat counter … I read an article not too long ago that advocated storing raw meats away from the vents in your refrigerator as the air circulation could pick up bacteria and spread it throughout the entire refrigerator … well DUH, don’t you think it could pick up bacteria from the ROMAINE LETTUCE just as easily!
For heavens sake … they need to get a grip — DRY KIBBLE has had more of an issue w/ bacteria than all the raw diets combined — commercial OR homemade!
Zelda Bush
June 11, 2019 at 6:04 pm
I use Honest Kitchen Clusters which are Human Grade. This is a new product from Honest Kitchen. Not many seem to know about this product.
mary
June 11, 2019 at 6:45 pm
So what do you think of glyphosate in pet food
Joyce
June 12, 2019 at 9:27 pm
Also, besides Vets giving you a hard time be aware that some veterinary hospitals quarantine your pet and will not even allow you to visit them if you dare mention that you feed your pet raw food. I had this happen to me when my dog had to have emergency surgery a few years ago. She nearly died and I was heartbroken and extremely anxious that I could not see her until they were ready to discharge her from the hospital. This happened at a large, well-known hospital in New Jersey. I was feeding my dog a high quality, commercial brand of raw pet food that was available in soft patties and nuggets. I only told the vets that I fed my dog raw because she doesn’t have many teeth and I was concerned they would try to feed her kibble when she could only eat soft foods.
Unfortunately after that incident I chose to switch her to another food and now make her meals at home using Dr. Harvey’s veggie mix and lightly cooked human grade meats and wild caught fish. She is a thriving 13 year old and always gets great marks at her annual check-ups.
Thanks to Susan and her annual food list I found this great alternative.
Jean
December 24, 2019 at 12:22 am
For 7 years my dog has had 70% raw food with lots of reasonably soft bones ie kangaroo tail pieces, turkey necks. Along with some veggies, sardines, herrings, occasional free range eggs or natural yoghurt and just now and again some kibble.. His teeth are beautiful. His coat is soft, his eyes are clear. Tom Lonsdale in NSW was our vet and he encouraged me to give my dog raw meaty bones. My dog thrives on his diet.