Raw Food Recalls
We don't get the raw obsession... and a new daily recipe!
We are back to work, and if you’ve been following on Instagram, Cedric & Edith’s kitchen is undergoing some minor renovations. It’s almost done so stay tuned for the final look.
This week we have a new daily feeding recipe for you! It’s a delicious, one-pot chicken pie. Scroll to the end for that.
We’re also going to share our thoughts and questions on recurring recalls of raw food brands. Mainly, what is all the fuss about pathogens in raw food?
FDA notice on contaminated raw dog food
Last week we saw another FDA advisory on a raw food provider that was found to contain salmonella, E. coli and listeria. Whenever there is a raw food recall, social media influencers are are quick to criticize. Customers are outraged. But it all doesn’t make much sense to us…
How can we really expect raw food to be pathogen-free?
Recalls on raw food happen a lot. The FDA issues warnings, or advisories, because it considers pet food that contains pathogens to be adulterated. Raw meat harbors pathogens. It’s just a fact of life. One emerging raw food brand had multiple recalls and redesigned their process to ensure better practices. Shortly after they had another recall. There are ways to mitigate pathogens in raw food, but they aren’t a guarantee. For example, manufacturers typically use a kill step such as High Pressure Processing (HPP). However, HPP is less reliable than heat treatment for several reasons.
HPP doesn’t kill bacterial spores. If the food is not handled or stored properly, the spores can still germinate and produce toxins.
HPP effectiveness depends a lot on the properties of the food. Fat content, water activity, salt content can all affect processing.
Some strains of bacteria can be very resistant to pressure.
It gets more challenging. Verifying that food is free of pathogens is no easy task. Companies often randomly sample product for testing, but this can miss hotspots. Also, food that starts out pathogen-free can still get contaminated easily with exposure or mishandling anywhere along the manufacturing chain.
Why all the fuss?
We really don’t get the expectation placed on raw-food providers for the food to be pathogen free. This is an extremely difficult task with currently available technology. According to one study 80% of homemade raw diets were contaminated with salmonella.
Raw meat in grocery stores are allowed to have some forms of pathogens in them, like salmonella, because we’re expected to cook them to safe temperatures before eating. Cooking is the most effective way to kill bacteria and parasites in meat.
Cooking also improves digestibility…
Raw diets for dogs are praised because heat can damage some sensitive nutrients like vitamin C, and some B vitamins like thiamine and folate. The trade off, other than contamination, is that raw proteins are less digestible. For example, cooked egg protein is nearly 2-times more digestible that raw egg protein in dogs and people. According to another study, the difference between raw and cooked meat digestibility in dogs was smaller than eggs, but still meaningful (88% protein digestibility for raw and 95% for cooked).
Another challenge with raw diets are a few hard-to-get nutrients. Even assuming that raw feeders include organ meat, nutrients like iodine, vitamins D and E are typically in short supply (many more if raw diets do not include organs). Some other troublesome nutrients like manganese and omega-3s DHA and EPA are also harder to get. How important each individual nutrient affects overall health is debatable, but ultimately raw diets are hard and messy. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again. The simplest solution to removing pathogens is just to cook the food!
Dogs are more resilient, but they can still get sick.
We’ve heard raw feeders use the fact that dogs digestive systems are more resilient to pathogens as an argument to support that they should be eating raw food. However, just because dogs can handle pathogens better than people, doesn’t mean that it’s good for them. Virulent strains of salmonella, listeria and E. coli can make dogs sick. Also, dogs that eat raw food shed pathogens in your home.
Here’s a new, easy-to-cook, recipe for you and your pup to start the week and year off well.
That’s it for now. Have a great week ahead.
All the best,
Joelle and R.A.
Excellent, well-thought-out, helpful information. I thank you, and my two doggies thank you too!