Just for the record though - freezing does not kill parasites.
This according to the USDA Safe Food Handling Fact Sheet:
Does Freezing Destroy Bacteria &
Parasites?
Freezing to 0 °F inactivates any microbes --
bacteria, yeasts and molds - - present in food. Once thawed, however, these
microbes can again become active, multiplying under the right conditions to
levels that can lead to foodborne illness. Since they will then grow at
about the same rate as microorganisms on fresh food, you must handle thawed
items as you would any perishable food.
Trichina and other parasites
can be destroyed by sub-zero freezing temperatures. However, very strict
government-supervised conditions must be met. It is not recommended to rely
on home freezing to destroy trichina. Thorough cooking will destroy all
parasites.
Even if it's parasite free - if kitty doesn't scarf it down and it sits
there - it's going to get nasty.
I'm not at all against Raw - nor am I debating it's nutritional value.
Cats have eaten raw in the wild for years. They've also gotten a
lot of parasites from it in the wild and have a considerably shorter life
span. It's just something to think about and I'm sure all of us want
all the info we can get.
In a message dated 6/20/2006 1:02:38 P.M. Central Daylight Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
Most meat that you buy in the grocery is totally frozen when it get
to the market so I don't think that is a real issue. Even the locker
I buy my meat at, the poultry is frozen solid. I think you need to
be smart when feeding your animal any diet. you can also
get just as much if not more bacteria from kibble or canned as from
raw.
Before anyone just goes out and starts feeding any diet they need to
read all they can on both sides of the issue and decide for
themselves.
if any of you would like websites for raw diets or book titles,
please e-mail me on the private side and I'll be happy to help you
out.
I just don't like to see false information out there.
Kiley Dozier-Bosanko
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
The
argument I've heard agaisnt raw food, is not about the nutritional value
of a raw meat diet, it's the fact that poultry produced in the US is
not
intended for raw consumption, it's not kept cold enough or
thoroughly
screened for parasytes, because producers assume it will
be cooked. I just
wonder if maybe it's worth that risk in order to
feed my kitties a great
diet that they love, or not because they are
already compromised. Also as
much as I hear about parasytes being a
major issue, I've never heard of an
actual pet getting them from raw
food.
From: Belinda
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To:
felvtalk@felineleukemia.org
To:
felvtalk@felineleukemia.org
Subject: Re: raw food
Date: Tue, 20
Jun 2006 06:27:35 -0700
I personally am still not 100% sure about
raw food. You get the argument
that this is what cats eat in the
wild, well like it or not, they aren't
wild anymore and have under
gone changes due to years of being domesticated.
So, I can only
go by my own experience and ours was good, no problems with
parasites.
--
Belinda
happiness is being owned by
cats ...
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