Companion Animal Nutrition 2020

Description

INCIDENCE OF PATHOGENIC ORGANISMS IN DIFFERENT VARIETIES OF A COMMERCIAL RAW MEAT-BASED DOG DIET.
Over the years the number of households in the UK that own a dog has increased dramatically and alongside this, so has the popularity of owners opting for a raw meat-based (RMB) diet for their companion animals. It has been identified that RMB diets may be contaminated with pathogens and can pose a risk to both animal and human health. Humans can come into contact with these pathogens either directly from food itself or from faecal shedding of the dog. Antimicrobial resistance is a huge concern in human medicine as antibiotics can become ineffective in fighting pathogenic strains and as such, it is important to understand how people may be exposed to them. The purpose of this study was to investigate the presence of pathogens in commercial RMB diets for dogs. Two different meat varieties of the same brand of frozen commercial RMB diet were analysed to identify the different pathogenic species present and the relative colony counts, with a focus on Listeria spp., Salmonella spp., E.coli and Campylobacter spp. By identifying any differences between the two varieties it will be possible to determine whether some meat sources provide a lower risk of pathogen contamination, and therefore may be a preferred choice in households where there is greater concern of zoonotic risk, i.e. where individuals are immunocompromised. The results will also be presented in relation to levels shown in meat from the human food-chain to allow comparison of risk.

Period	13 Feb 2020
Event type	Conference
Location	Northampton, United Kingdom
Degree of Recognition	Local