FDA “suggests consumers carefully consider the risks of feeding a raw pet food to their pets”. This is not only a bias against raw pet foods, it is a lack of understanding (on FDA’s part) of lightly processed pet foods. Here’s the story and what our consumer association asked FDA regarding this bias.

In a not so surprising FDA press release, the FDA again tells consumers that raw pet foods are a risk to not only your pet’s health but a risk to human health as well. In a very strong statement (strongest I have noticed yet) the latest press release from FDA says…

FDA does not believe feeding raw pet foods to animals is consistent with the goal of protecting the public from significant health risks.

The FDA’s Dr. Burkholder states “Feeding raw foods to pets increases the risk that both the pet and the people around the pet will encounter bacteria that cause foodborne illness, particularly if the products are not carefully handled and fed,” Burkholder says. “This is certainly one factor that should be considered when selecting diets for your pet.”

In the past twelve months…

• There have been five recalls for bacteria contamination of dry/kibble pet foods – in total 37 different varieties of kibble pet food recalled.

• There have been 3 recalls for bacteria contamination of various dried jerky treats, 5 varieties of pet treats recalled.

• There have been 2 recalls for bacteria contamination of raw foods – 9 varieties of raw foods recalled.

Statistically – based on number of products recalled during the past 12 months, a consumer has had a 400% higher chance of exposing their family to a bacteria from kibble than it has with raw pet food. Where is the FDA warning that ‘Consumers should carefully consider the risks of feeding a kibble food to their pet’ – ?  There is no such warning against kibble pet food – the FDA did not issue a warning against kibble pet food.

Where is the FDA statement ‘FDA does not believe feeding jerky treats imported from China to animals is consistent with the goal of protecting pets from significant health risks’ – ? There is no such warning against jerky treats from China.

Jerky treats imported from China have killed and sickened thousands of pets for more than seven years – yet the FDA has never once warned consumers to ‘carefully consider the risks of feeding jerky treats from China to their pet’. The agency has issued “alerts” sharing that the agency continues to investigate the treats – but never a warning. The strongest FDA stance on jerky treats from China has been “Pet treats are not a necessary part of a fully balanced diet, so eliminating them will not harm pets.”

Clearly, the FDA has an unfounded bias against raw pet foods. Actually, I believe the agency is biased against any pet food that does not come in the form of kibble or can and that is not made with typical ‘feed grade’ ingredients. This is a significant problem for all educated pet food consumers (not only to raw pet food consumers). FDA’s bias hurts us all. Read more of this article, including Truth About Pet Food’s letter to the FDA in response to this warning

Read more – Green Dog’s Christine Mallar wrote a blog post last fall detailing this strange discrepancy in recalls – check out all of the salmonella recalls for kibble in the past few years, including a few that have sickened fairly large numbers of people. There have been no documented cases of humans sickened by raw pet food…Why doesn’t the FDA warn about the dangers of handling all pet foods? Why isn’t there ever a warning about the safety of feeding kibbles, when they are more commonly recalled for Salmonella?