The Raw Food Risk that I Never Thought About

From Episode 180 in the Medicine feed. With Romaine Troussot

I personally don't understand the raw pet food trend, but I try not to judge and generally don't have the energy to argue. So, when I take a patient's history and hear that they eat raw food, I just nod and move on. But I must confess that I secretly enjoy the look on their face when I explain that the haemorrhagic diarrhoea their dog had on their carpet could definitely be due to pathogens picked up from raw meat... (Very unprofessional, I know.) But I might start being a bit more vocal after these insights from nutritionist Romaine Troussot in our raw vs. kibble conversation:

• Multiple studies have identified significant pathogen contamination rates in raw pet food products—generally somewhere between 20% and 64%. (Romaine quoted 50% to 100%, but I can't substantiate that claim. However, 20% to 64% seems like a reliable number.)

• That's gross, but what's scary is that other studies have shown that up to 60% to 70% of Enterobacteriaceae found in raw food samples are multidrug-resistant, as well as significant numbers of resistant E. coli and Enterococci.

• Now for the really fun part: microbiome studies are teaching us that owners and pets have significant overlap in their gut biomes. So, little Bella the Cavoodle's multidrug-resistant E. coli is quite likely to become the rest of the family's multidrug-resistant E. coli. Including the kids. Yuck!

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