Recently, I read a very eye-opening post written by a licensed veterinarian about raw diets. They claimed this diet is not only unhealthy and you'd have to be delirious to subject your pets to meat, but that it's a "serious public health threat to our population." What does this mean? Is there any truth to this claim? Let's find out... If you follow me on Instagram, (@themindfulmustelid) you may have have seen my stories discussing a recent anti-raw post made by a licensed veterinarian. In my educated opinion as a companion animal nutrition student, this post was brimming with bias and false claims made to push a strong narrative of; "raw is evil." The OP even showed support to comments saying #neverfeedraw and other strong opinions against raw, along with attempting to invalidate (or straight up ignore) any positive experiences regarding raw posted in the comment section (if they weren't deleted, that is). Listen, I'm a raw feeder. I obviously have a bias myself. That being said, I have done extensive research in pet nutrition. I have spent thousands of dollars on nutrition programs created by PhD nutritionists (non-bias) at an accredited university and further education courses made by pet diet experts. While this may mean nothing to some people, I can say with confidence I've done more dedicated research into the topic of nutrition than your average veterinarian. In fact, if you want to get technical, "Because nutrition isn't viewed as an integral part of disease management (unless the pet is having a GI problem), many vet students graduate not recognizing the monumental role nutrition plays in overall health. They don't have enough knowledge to institute innovative nutritional protocols to manage degenerative disease in their patients." - Karen Becker DVM "I’ll be the first to agree that some veterinary institutions don’t provide enough nutrition training; however, even those institutions have curriculum that incorporates critical thinking, research, and the importance of continuing education. To maintain licensure to practice, veterinarians are required to complete a certain amount of continuing education each year, and there are many options available for veterinarians to either brush up on nutrition or pick up where vet school left off. It’s just a matter of making an effort to do so." - Amy Farcas DVM DACVM In summary: Veterinarians are given a basic overview in pet nutrition, because they're expected to continue this education after graduation. I can say from personal experience that the multiple veterinarians I've spoken with have opted to not learn more about nutrition. Instead, they attend pet food seminars held by massive "Big Kibble" companies like Purina and Hills. This is not continuing your education! There are of course veterinary board certified nutritionists, who went through an additional 2 years of study at the least. According to real veterinarians, that additional schooling is often funded by Big Kibble. There aren't many board certified nutritionists out there, making the vast majority of veterinarians not certified. Again, yes I have bias. However, I've spoken about the risks of natural feeding many times on my platforms (potentials for nutrient imbalance, etc.) Many of these "vet influencers" on social media only speak of one narrative, and that is "raw is evil." Using their credentials to force a false claim to thousands of pet parents online. Because how would it make them look if they talked about the risks of kibble...the very food sold in nearly all clinics? We're getting a little bit off topic, but all of this background is crucial in understanding the mindset of most conventional veterinarians. Some will break the mold and venture into Holistic medicine territory, and are often much more welcoming and even strong advocates for the natural diet over kibble. "Raw Feeding is a Public Safety Risk" This is probably the whackiest anti-raw claim I've seen during my time on the internet. I honestly didn't even know where to look to confirm validity of this particular statement. I turned to the FDA's website, that states: "Owners who feed their pet a raw diet may have a higher risk of getting infected with Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes." Well, yeah. I think we were all taught growing up to handle raw meats with care. Always wash hands and to both clean and disinfect areas that touched raw meat. According to the North American Meat Institute (yes, that's a real thing!), it's estimated that 326 million Americans eat a meat based diet. Many of those people are handling raw meat on a daily basis. What's so different from prepping the meat on a cutting board and cooking it versus plopping it into a bowl for our pets? We're still handling the raw meat, we still need to clean our prepping supplies and work area. Yes I can agree that raw meat has a higher chance of containing harmful bacteria. Does this mean processed food is completely safe from pathogenic bacteria though? Absolutely not! An irrefutable fact that many conventional veterinarians fail to inform their clients. The risk of pathogenic bacteria proliferation is present in all periods of kibble production. Some processed pet product recalls due to pathogenic bacteria:
Interestingly enough, compared to previous years the amount of Salmonella/Listeria recalls in kibble has greatly diminished since 2015. According to the FDA's website, from 2010-2014 the numbers of recalled kibble was a lot higher. Meanwhile, raw pet food recalls were increasing each year. Something to note; From 2010-2012 the FDA had done a survey testing and found that the 120 samples of kibble were free from Salmonella. During that exact time frame, over 19 million pounds of it were recalled in 2012, making it appear a bit inaccurate. Regardless, this data sparked a scare-tactics movement by the FDA. They produced multiple articles warning about the risks of raw feeding, scaring many pet parents out of feeding raw and fueling the Big Kibble agenda. Just like many veterinarians, despite the millions of pounds of dry food recalled they have never warned about the dangers of kibble feeding. This poses the question: are they purposefully not testing kibble for pathogenic bacteria because it could go against their anti-raw narrative? It does seem very odd that recalls have magically gone down to zero aside from the very recent August incident. As you can see from these charts created from FDA data, from 2009-2018 29-64.4% of kibble recalls were due to Salmonella. Just for the fun of it, take a look at the other causes for recall. Insufficient/Excess Vitamins and/or Minerals 7-15.6%, much higher than that of the raw recalls. Something the anti-raw people love to say, "raw diets are unbalanced!" Raw hasn't even been recalled for mold and aflatoxins in this time period because they're generally void of grains. Vet Organization & FDA Hypocrisy When you look at all the recent recalls due to Salmonella in raw pet food, they were recalled after samples were tested. Not because an animal or person fell ill. On the American Veterinary Medical Association's (AVMA) website regarding the 2012 outbreak in kibble, "No, this is not an indication that pet foods are unsafe. Considering that the majority of these recalls have been precautionary and not associated with illness in pets or people, these recalls may indicate that they are preventing illness by catching the problems earlier." If that's the case, shouldn't the AVMA and similar organizations hold this same belief over raw pet foods? This was said after 30,000+ tons of kibble were recalled and nearly 50 people fell ill...seems very hypocritical doesn't it? Imagine what they would've said if it was flipped and raw pet food caused this incident. The Truth About Salmonella All that is fine and dandy but what's the real deal with Salmonella? Is it really much of a risk to our pets? Big fat nope. Like with anything, unless your animal is seriously immunocompromised and / or sick, you generally don't have much to worry about. Here are the facts:
Not corn, rice, and potatoes. Salmonella if present, will be shed through your pet's feces. Unless you're licking your hands after a litter clean, you're probably fine too! Clean prep areas after making their meals. Thaw meat in a container, not loose in your fridge...all common sense safe handling tips. End Notes Before I sign off, I just want to say how disappointed I am with "vet/ vet tech influencers" on social media. These people have thousands of dedicated followers that will take anything they say as fact simply because they have a vet title. With the rise of Tik Tok and influencers in general, anti-raw content is everywhere! In catchy videos and posts with fancy fonts...it's appealing. People will follow a video/post they find aesthetically pleasing with visuals that explain their narrative in an easy-to-understand manner. I have read various outlandish claims against raw feeding and they are never followed with the "many studies to prove the dangers of raw feeding!" If they offer any, it's generally bias studies led by Big Kibble influenced organizations.
Ever wonder why we don't have as many studies on raw feeding? No one really profits from the results unlike a kibble study. My message to all of you: question everything! Just because something is marketed for animals, doesn't mean it's healthy or safe. Heck, most of the time it isn't. I'm not pushing you to become a raw feeder, I'm asking you to think for yourself. Feed the animal in front of you. If someone is telling you there are no studies to prove raw feeding can be beneficial, don't take it as fact! Look it up for yourself because it isn't true. Don't even get me started on the recent bullying campaign led by vet influencers to mock the fresh food movement... I'll let the photo speak for itself:
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