The problem is this trend could be fueling the spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria, according to new research presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID), held online from July 9 to 12, and published online in June 2021 in the International Journal of Food Microbiology. Investigators found multidrug-resistant bacteria in raw dog food identical to those found in hospital patients in several different European countries. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), drug-resistant infections kill an estimated 700,000 people each year, and that figure is projected to balloon to 10 million deaths by 2050 if no action is taken.
Raw Dog Food More Likely to Contain Drug-Resistant Bacteria
Researchers in Portugal analyzed 55 kinds of dog food from 25 different brands that are available internationally. Samples included 22 wet, 8 dry, 4 semi-wet, 14 raw-frozen, and 7 treats. The raw frozen food ingredients included duck, salmon, turkey, chicken, lamb, goose, beef, and vegetables. Thirty samples (54 percent) contained enterococci, and more than 40 percent of the bacteria were resistant to eight commonly used antibiotics. Twenty-three percent of the enterococci found were resistant to linezolid, which is considered a last-resort antibiotic and used on severe infections when other drugs have failed, according to the authors. All of the raw dog food samples contained the multidrug-resistant enterococci, including the enterococci found resistant to linezolid; only three of the non-raw food samples had multidrug-resistant bacteria.
Enterococcus Can Be the Cause of UTIs or Other Infections
Resistant enterococcus is a common pathogen for difficult to treat infections and can commonly be the cause of urinary tract infections (UTIs), blood stream infections, and endocarditis, says C. Scott Mahan, MD, chief of medicine at Charles George VA Medical Center in Asheville, North Carolina, and coauthor of the textbook Clinical Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple. Dr. Mahan was not involved in the study. “If you have an infection with enterococcus that doesn’t respond to the usual antibiotic, it is likely to go on longer until the right treatment is started; you’ll also be sicker due to the delay,” says Mahan. The treatment of resistant pathogens requires antibiotics that are more expensive and often that have more side effects, he adds.
Bacteria Could Spread From Pets to People
“It would seem logical that if our pets become colonized with resistant pathogens we might then get exposed as a result,” says Mahan. This research isn’t the first to highlight the risks that can come with these products. A study published in May 2021 in Epidemiology and Infection linked raw pet food to a 2017 E. coli outbreak in the United Kingdom that resulted in one death. There is a risk of several infectious diseases — both bacterial and parasitic — in raw foods of any kind, including campylobacter, salmonella, Clostridium perfringens, and E. coli, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Are Raw Pet Foods Worth the Risk?
A 2019 survey of 1,156 pet owners and 574 veterinarians found that 29.4 percent of dog owners thought a raw food diet was healthier than commercial pet foods, while only 3.9 percent of vets thought so. The fact is there are no published peer-reviewed studies that support the premise that raw food is healthier for dogs or helps them live longer, according to the American College of Veterinary Nutrition. The organization also cites the possibility of bacterial or parasitic contamination and nutrition imbalances among their concerns about home prepared or purchased raw pet food. This isn’t the first study to find dangerous bacteria in raw dog food. A European study published in April 2019 in VetRecord analyzed 60 frozen packs of raw dog food and found that over half of the 60 samples taken contained levels of bacteria that exceeded the threshold set by the European Union. The bacteria identified included salmonella and campylobacter, a common cause of food poisoning. Clostridium perfringens, a marker of contamination from feces and poor hygiene standards, was found in 18 samples. If you currently feed your pet a raw food diet or are weighing the pros and cons, the authors made the following recommendations:
Talk to your veterinarian before putting your dog on a raw food diet.Don’t feed your pet raw food if there are infants, elderly people, or people with compromised immune systems in your house.Keep the food frozen until use, and thaw it at 50 degrees F.Keep it separate from other food.Handle the food with separate kitchen equipment or with equipment that is washed thoroughly after use.Wash your hands after handling dog food or picking up your dog’s poop.
