Scientists say commercial raw cat food may pose health risk to cats and the families who look after them. — Freepik
Commercial raw cat food, particularly products sold on shelves at room temperature, may pose a considerable health risk to cats and the families who care for them, according to an analysis of the products.
The analysis detected diseasecausing microbes, including some that are resistant to antibiotics, the researchers reported in Communications Biology.
“Most of these products have no warning labels on them showing that the meat ingredients are not fully cooked, indicating that they could harbor live bacteria and potentially viruses and parasites that would make a family very sick,” study leader Laura Goodman of Cornell University said in a statement.
The researchers found Salmonella, Cronobacter and E. coli in raw or partially cooked meat sold frozen, refrigerated or freeze-dried in stores and online.
“Particularly for the freeze-dried products sold on shelves, consumers likely have no idea they are taking on that risk,” Goodman said.
They also found antibiotic- resistant pseudomonas, a bacteria that can cause serious, life-threatening lung, blood and urinary tract infections; Klebsiella, a bacteria that can cause fever, chills and fatigue, and potentially pneumonia and urinary tract infections; and Clostridium perfringens, the bacteria that leads to gastroenteritis in undercooked turkey and causes food poisoning around Thanksgiving.
“These pathogens can transfer from pets to humans and are of special concern for young children and people who are old, pregnant and immunocompromised,” the researchers said.
Earlier studies have found antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria in raw dog food as well, the researchers also note. When the researchers uploaded the results of their cat food study to a federal database, “there were indeed some human cases that were genetically very similar,” revealing that people potentially were sickened from the same products studied, Goodman said.
The United States Food and Drug Administration does test for a limited number of bacteria in raw cat foods, but the paper provides evidence of a wider range of pathogens that might be used to inform the agency’s future policies, the researchers said. – Reuters
