Tired of cooking...which meat has least amount

ground meats in general have more bacteria then whole pieces of meat.   the processing equipment can be a nice little breeding ground.   do you need to feed ground for some reason ?     you could just drop the ground meat into boiling water for 5 mintues and drain in a collander - thats generally what I do for any meat I feed anyway - even whole pieces.   it makes me feel like I've cooked it and destroyed bacteria but inside its pretty much raw.   

 ETA - bacteria is really from the handling process.  the longer the meat sits outside of proper refridgeration the more bacteria there will be.   many of the bacteria can "come back to life" after being frozen, which is why it is always recommended to defrost meat in the fridge.

I have 2 dogs very susceptable to choking, nearly lost one of them just over a week ago. So there will not be any raw meat served with bone in it, unfortunately...just can't take that chance.

I have no way to grind the meat myself, and no one around here will do it without cost involved.

Probably will still blanch the meat, if you will, but I'm tired of deboning chicken.

Beef prices around here make it unaffordable to feed anything but beef heart once-twice every few weeks; and perhaps ground beef every other week. Whole beef cut peices are completely unaffordable for feeding my 53# pup.

I can get ground beef for nearly $2/lb, and ground turkey for $1.60/lb....chicken obviously is the cheapest, but my gang doesn't do good on raw chicken and chicken is the most affordable meat for the whole family.......BUT, if we keep smelling it every week, us humans are gonna wanta quit eating it! 

The reason I know of for blanching ground meat is that E. Coli is the easiest bug to kill. That is why I'm not scared to cook a steak with some pink still in it. Restaurants serving a rare steak are still required to expose each side to 45 seconds of heat. This the bare minimum recognized to kill E. Coli. Salmonella and Trichinosis, however, are heartier bugs. That is why it is considered safer to fully cook chicken and pork. Of the two, I would say that pork is more risky, partially because of the fat content. Plenty here feed raw chicken parts without a problem but those are whole parts and not ground in a machine that is used to grind everything. A butcher or even a homecooker can sterilize the equipment after each use and avoid, let's say, 95 percent of any risk.

Dogs can and do suffer from parasitic infections from raw meat, but maybe not as often as humans. Also, dogs have a quicker GI and have been known to shed live Salmonella, still viable. This does present a risk to humans with affected immune systems who may be in contact. If your dog poops in the yard, you will be in contact with it, even if you don't actually roll around in the dog piles.

I use a scooper and handle to de-poopify the yard. I immediately close that bag and throw it in the trash can. And then wash my hands when I am done. The closest I have been is inches, while tying the bag to close. I haven't had a problem yet but it's just a standard procedure of mine, just as if I were handling raw meat.

And, if I remember correctly, you can can also kill some E. Coli by freezing the meat first, then defrosting to serve. OTOH, incidences of humans suffering from eating store bought meat aren't that great, that I know of.

There's a risk in whatever we do. You could step out of the house and get hit by a bus. But step out, anyway. Not all buses are aiming for us.

Ron2 .....thank you for that, it really did help put things in perspective...in more ways then one.

The idea of ever feeding pork raw won't happen round here, that's one meat I won't take a chance with.....my Mom and I almost died from Pork after it was thoroughly cooked some 9yrs ago. We have just in the last year agreed to start eating pork chops again, cause we both always did like a good juicy pork chop....but that's it. No other pork is ever served and we only have them once every several weeks.

I would have no big issue serving cooked pork to the doggies, but again, probably won't happen. Mainly cause pork round here is not cheap.

I have no problem blanching beef, was wondering if it was the safest in terms of easier to kill off gunk.

They got ground turkey that was blanched for about 10min last night, i.e. mostly cooked, only a few spots of pink remaining.

Salmonella/bugs in the stool are very likely out here, simply because we also have our fair share of deer/elk and even mountain lion poo troubles in our backyard. We use gloves as well as hand shovels to scoop it up and it goes in a standard kitchen size bag, as we always end up finding quite a bit of lion poo out behind the shed. We live on close to 2 acres near a wildlife preserve.  

Here's why poultry and beef are high risk for contamination.

Both are raised in confinement systems.  Not only do these systems concentrate fecal waste on a horrendous way, but they are also pretty much 100% dependent on grain based feeding systems.

Believe it or not, neither poultry nor cattle are actually adapted to live, grow, and thrive on grain.  In cattle, the lack of roughage decreases the pH in their intestinal tracts, which creates a breeding ground for bacteria that normally doesn't exist.  Normally, cattle and other ruminants on grass aren't a vector for e-coli and salmonella.  Chickens aren't either - they normally have a high protein diet (bugs) that keeps their intestinal pH high.  Plus they are very clean normally and will avoid concentrated areas of ***.

The way they keep poultry and cattle alive after changing their diets and living conditions in this way, is by feeding them low levels of antibiotics.  The antibiotics keep their intestinal tracts at least clean enough to continue functioning.  But if you look at cattle in feed lots, they are pretty much brown in the back end from the diarrhea they have all the time.  That's not normal.

So, the short answer to your question is grass fed meat.  Or anything not confinement raised.  That will not probably work with your budget, however.

What I'd advise you to do is make a one-time purchase of a small meat grinder.  They only cost about $125, the price of a couple bags of super-premium food.  For a little over $200 you can get one that will grind chicken and rabbit bones.  Look for these in the outdoor supply catalogs - one of my favorite is Sportsmans Guide.  You can't get the good grinder that will do bones there - that's the Tasin.  Oh, hey, it's on sale for $185 if you follow the link.  If you do  grind bones, it is extremely easy to balance the rest - there's very little else that needs to be added.  It would then be possible to drop the HK - which might pay for the grinder in just a few months.

Another alternative is to order mixes from online companies like Hare Today and Blue Ridge Beef.  You can find a co-op in your area so that the shipping doesn't hurt quite so much - some companies don't even charge shipping for a large order such as a co-op would get together.

Good luck! 

I do agree with you, however even with the meat grinder, I'm at the same question and problem. I have tried raw chicken several times, one dog does ok, the other two don't. Thus the reason behind wanting to try raw turkey and/or beef, however, buying anything but ground beef is way too costly.

I'll look into the two co-op's you mentioned, however, not sure if I have a big enough freezer and/or whether I can afford them.

I'll go back to cooking the ground turkey thoroughly rather then just blanching.....seems the concensious (sp??) is that it could be ladened with bacteria.

why are you concerned about bacteria? dogs very rarely, if ever, develop problems from bacteria they eat. They don't digest the way humans do- people hold food in the stomach for only a short period of time and then it spends a lot of time in the intestines. Any consumed bacteria can often survive the acid of the stomach and then happily grow in the intestine. Dogs do it the other way around- they hold food for a long time in the acid of the stomach, killing most bacteria, and then rapidly transit the food through the intestine so any bugs that managed to survive the stomach don't really have time to grow and cause problems. Parasites aren't really a problem in modern commercial meats.

If you're so concerned about bacteria avoid the ground meats and buy stewing beef cut into chunks or buy beef chuck and chop it up yourself. A quick sear of the surfaces and all bacteria is gone.

stanton

I would have no big issue serving cooked pork to the doggies, but again, probably won't happen. Mainly cause pork round here is not cheap.

I'm not sure where you live, but where I live (usually more expensive than other areas) pork is one of the least expensive meats. I'd never buy pork chops for my dogs but pork shoulder roasts are on sale regularly for about $1.29 a lb. I've also been told that these days pork is one of the meats with the least concerns for contamination. I wasn't totally comfortable with feeding it raw, so I just threw the roast in my crock pot with some liquid and let it cook away. It will fall apart nicely after that, so there's no reason to grind it either. I wouldn't let the fact that you had a bad experience with some pork many yrs ago deter you from trying it.

mudpuppy

why are you concerned about bacteria? dogs very rarely, if ever, develop problems from bacteria they eat.

Yup.  One of my dogs is an avid poop-eater.  If he hasn't gotten sick from that I'm not going to worry about a little bacteria in raw meat.

I wouldn't be too concerned, except even those that DO feed raw on this board say to avoid ground meats; thus it leaves me concerned.

Pork IS nearly $3/lb here, doesn't make sense to me either. But it is, unfortunately.

Again, buying whole beef to chop it myself isn't feasible either, unless I want to pay $2.99/lb

I will admit I have been feeding slightly blanched ground turkey the last 3-4 days...all seem to be ok with it.

Are you sure you are looking at the right cuts of pork? Boneless pork loins can cost that much but look for picnic shoulder or bone-in pork butt. Very large chunks of meat. Here they vary from 0.80  to 1.29 a pound. Pop in crockpot cook turns into the consistency of pulled pork easy to mix with your HK.

 I feed raw, ground meat to a dog with a compromised immune system. I do this every, single day of her life. She does just fine. I wouldn't reccomend it to most, but she does not tolerate whole bones, at all, ever.

jennie_c_d

 I feed raw, ground meat to a dog with a compromised immune system. I do this every, single day of her life. She does just fine. I wouldn't reccomend it to most, but she does not tolerate whole bones, at all, ever.

Jennie....do YOU ground it, or do you buy it that way? I'm wondering if that's what our problem has been with the chicken.....the bones.

Mudpuppy....I will double check the pork prices here at Walmart, I do know sometimes they have sales, but seems to never be consistant enough to make a go of it.

you shop walmart? maybe that's your problem. Our walmarts seem to sell only overpriced junk. I'm talking regular pork prices at regular grocery stores not sales. I also feed raw ground meat ground by the store, and I'm quite sure most raw feeders do as well. Many people feed pre-made ground raw mixes.