jessies_mom
Posted : 4/6/2006 6:08:38 PM
Welcome to i-dog sparkles[
], Actually, parasites can be a problem with raw meat:
[link
http://www.crvetcenter.com/images/Newsletters/crvcnewsletterDec02p1.pdf]http://www.crvetcenter.com/images/Newsletters/crvcnewsletterDec02p1.pdf[/link]
Toxoplasma in raw meat?
Toxoplasma gondii is a single-cell parasite that infects cats and dogs. Signs of infection
include neurologic disorders, muscle wasting (myositis), liver disease, and pneumonia
depending on the migration of the parasite.
Cats can transmit toxoplasma to humans and dogs who ingest cysts in the cat feces.
Recently an article in the New York Times reported that pregnant women are more
likely to acquire toxoplasmosis from eating undercooked meat than they are from handling
a cat. The Times article goes on to report that an estimated 8 percent of beef and
20 percent of lamb and pork contain the parasite. Pregnant women are advised to wear
gloves when digging in fecal-contaminated soil or when cleaning the cat#%92s litter pan to
avoid infection.
With more pet owners feeding natural diets (including raw meat) to their cat or dog, I
wondered if the hazard of toxoplasma infection included frozen meats. There are at
least a dozen manufacturers of raw frozen pet foods in this country, and most are
shipped frozen to consumers or retail outlets.
I contacted Dr. Arthur Liang, Director of Food Safety at the Center for Disease Control
to find out if freezing would destroy toxoplasma cysts in raw meat. According to Dr.
Liang#%92s contact, Dr. Dubey at USDA wrote: “cysts are killed by exposure to -12° C.”
(ref: Kotula et al, Journal of Food Protection 54:687-690, 1991).
Consumers can keep a thermometer in their freezer to determine what temperature their
food is stored at (-12° C = +10.4° F). Raw frozen pet food diets held at temperatures
above 10° F could potentially hold viable toxoplasma cysts. Toxoplasma and other
food-borne pathogens are destroyed by cooking the meat.
The freezer at CRVC where we store frozen pet food has always been set at -10° F, or
20 degrees below the point where toxoplasma is destroyed.
- W. Konrad Kruesi, D.V.M
So, you want to be sure your freezer is 10 degrees F or colder to kill toxoplasmosis. Although trichinosis is much less of a threat than it used to be, some of those who advocate raw feeding still advise against raw pork. Also, some types of raw fish can be a problem because of mercury levels, mainly large fish such as tuna that live long enough to accumulate large amounts of mercury in their body.