From Nutritional Adequacy to Hygiene Quality: A Detailed Assessment of Commercial Raw Pet-Food for Dogs and Cats

Simple Summary As alternative diets to processed pet food, raw meat-based diets (RMBDs) have received increasing attention in recent years. Commercial RMBDs consist mainly of raw meats, animal by-products, such as offal, and bones. Most RMBDs do not contain additives; therefore, they potentially pose a risk of nutritional imbalances to adults and, to a greater extent, growing animals. RMBDs are frozen ready-to-use products that are fed to pets after being thawed. Bacterial contamination of RMBDs is an area of concern, including the risk of spreading zoonotic diseases to humans. In this study, a detailed assessment of commercial RMBDs was performed in relation to nutritional adequacy and hygiene quality. The results showed that the tested products often provided deficient amounts of essential nutrients, were nutritionally unbalanced, and very rich in fat. They were also characterized by high microbial contamination, showing low hygiene quality. This study provides information that indicates the need for strict monitoring of the nutritional and microbiological quality of commercial RMBDs. Raw meat-based diets (RMBDs) are widely used as unconventional diets for dogs and cats at different life stages, despite concerns regarding nutritional adequacy and microbial contamination. The aim of this study was to evaluate both the nutritional and hygiene quality profile of RMBDs purchased in Germany. For this purpose, crude nutrients were assessed in 44 RMBDs and compared to declared values. In addition, selected minerals were determined in 31 RMBDs labelled as complete and compared to the minimum requirement (MR) for intended species and life stages. Aerobic colony count (ACC) and Enterobacteriaceae were used to assess the hygiene quality of 37 commercial RMBDs, while the presence of Salmonella spp. was examined in 10 products. Fat and protein content exceeded tolerated deviation from declared values in 33% and 45% of RMBDs, respectively. Each RMBD showed at least one concern regarding nutrient content. The RMBDs had high fat contents (mean 69, range 33-95 g/Mcal) that were negatively correlated with protein (r = -0.74, p < 0.0001). Considerable contaminations by ACC and Enterobacteriaceae were found (2.61 x 10(8) +/- 3.63 x 10(8) and 3.61 x 10(6) +/- 8.39 x10(6) CFU/g, respectively). A higher count of Enterobacteriaceae was detected in a frozen RMBDs made of poultry or carcasses from different animals, compared to the thawed counterpart (p = 0.003), as well as compared to other sources, such as beef, horse, and lamb, regardless of the storage condition. Salmonella spp. were found in 2/10 RMBDs. This study confirmed that feeding commercial RMBDs might pose a risk to pet health.