FREEZEDRY CHEATING DOES NOT MAKE THE BEST PET FOOD

Freeze drying is a method that can be used to preserve raw foods in a convenient dry state. For most people this is more acceptable than handling and preparing raw meats and organs.

In this process, raw foods are frozen and then converted to a dry form by subjecting them to high vacuum over many days to remove the moisture. (The frozen water sublimates to vapor without going through a liquid phase that could support bacterial proliferation.) By removing enough moisture, bacteria cannot proliferate and the food can be shelf stable.

However, when something is difficult and expensive to do - like freeze drying - there will be cheating. In the pet food industry, "freeze dried" has come to be recognized as synonymous with "raw." But that is not always true.

A true raw food must be kept below the critical temperature of 118 degrees Fahrenheit, the temperature above which enzymes and probiotics are inactivated, and vitamins and organically complexed minerals begin to degrade. Since it takes more time and energy to freeze dry at less than 118 degrees, some manufacturers simply raise the temperature to quicken the process - meaning the resulting food is no longer truly raw. It can be called freeze dried, but it is no longer raw.

The best pet food is at least in part raw. But raw food can harbor food borne pathogens. Although carnivores seem to be quite capable of neutralizing these pathogens-as is evidenced by the contaminated foods their wild counterparts eat-there is concern about people handling such foods. The FDA now prohibits any pathogens in commercial foods.

This presents a problem for commercial raw foods since they all potentially contain these pathogens. Freeze drying may slow pathogen proliferation, but it does not destroy them.

Fortunately, new technology using non-thermal processes now enables the destruction of pathogens and can be used for the meats that are going to be freeze dried.

Armed with this information you will be able to ask producers the important questions about temperature and pathogen destruction to be sure you are receiving both raw and safe freeze dried foods.

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Thought for the day: " The formula 'Two and two makes five' is not without its attractions." – Fedor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (1821-1881)

Word for the day: nutrigenomics - noun: The study of the effects of foods and food constituents on gene expression. This word is a corollary of the broader term epigenetics. Both terms deny the age-old idea that the only way to affect genes and gene expression is with mutations. Now the importance of environment and food is recognized. How we live and how we force our pets to live can affect health in dramatic and long lasting ways.