While it shouldn’t come as a surprise considering other studies, a recent study in PLoS One (O’Brien et al 2012) has caused a bit of a stir in the US. This study, headed up by Dr. Tara Smith’s research group in Iowa, looked for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in retail pork. They bought

I frequently get e-mails from people who are proponents of feeding raw meat to pets. The e-mails often start by calling me an idiot, and they generally go downhill from there. Some, however, go into detail about why they think there are no health concerns for themselves or their pets associated with feeding raw meat.

Meat QuestionFeeding raw meat diets to dogs is a very controversial issue. Some proponents passionately advocate these diets (e.g. the BARF diet) based on vague and unproven recommendations. Opponents cite various studies showing that pets fed raw meat (not surprisingly) have high carriage rates of potentially harmful bacteria such as Salmonella, and reports of