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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
New research due to be presented at this year's European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) reveals that raw-type dog foods contain high levels of multidrug-resistant bacteria, including those resistant to last-line antibiotics. The potential transfer of such bacteria between dogs and humans is an international public health risk, conclude the authors who include Dr. Ana Raquel Freitas and colleagues from the Faculty of Pharmacy, UCIBIO/REQUIMTE, University of Porto, Portugal.
[...] Raw-food-based diets for dogs have grown popularity recently as a healthier choice. Increasing controversy regarding their safety is emerging, with some scientific evidence showing their role as vehicles for transmission of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. In addition, dogs have been described as reservoirs of clinically-relevant ampicillin-resistant (AmpR) Enterococcus faecium, but the source remains unknown.
In this study, the authors analysed enterococci obtained from processed (both dry and wet types) and non-processed (raw-frozen) foods of the main brands commercialised in Portugal. The study included 46 samples (22 wet, 15 dry, 9 raw-frozen) from 24 international brands, sourced from 8 supermarkets and one veterinary clinic. Samples were obtained during September to November, 2019. Raw-frozen samples were mainly constituted of salmon, chicken, turkey, calf, deer or duck, being a mixture of different meat types, fruits and vegetables.
[...] The authors conclude: "Our study demonstrates that raw-frozen-foods for dogs carry MDR enterococci including to last-line antibiotics (linezolid) for the treatment of human infections. The close contact of pets with humans and the commercialisation of the studied brands in different EU countries pose an international public health risk if transmission of such strains occurs between dogs and humans. There is strong past and recent evidence that dogs and humans share common multidrug-resistant strains of E. faecium, and thus the potential for these strains to be transmitted to humans from dogs."
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday April 21 2020, @06:54PM (1 child)
That dogfood is mostly "people food". Animals go in the slaughterhouse, people food comes out the other end, along with "animal byproducts". That is, the dogfood came from the same animals from which the people food came from. Whatever contamination is on the animal food, was almost certainly preesent before, during, and after the processing of people food.
That may deter people from eating undercooked foods.
Take that a step further - who's to say that some of these germs and bacteria didn't come from the animal that was slaughtered, to start with? As has already been mentioned, most livestock today is raised on a high antibacterial diet. The breeding pens are ideal places for biological warfare specimens to breed.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 21 2020, @08:46PM
Obviously the germs originated from the animals. But first, that specific germ, Enterococcus faecium, lives in the colon as its species name helpfully hints, so the source was badly-washed large intestine at best. And second, germs in food cause spoilage; even if dogs can eat rotten stuff with relative impunity, they are not hyenas, to be intentionally fed that.