Should Pet Foods be Held to the Same Safety Standards as Human Foods?

Pet Food
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Pet Food
The close cohabitation between animals and humans makes the safety assurance of pet food principal. Contagious agents are transferable through the feeds and may determine pets' health conditions. People can also contract some diseases from domesticated animals. Moreover, animals' food, like raw poultry or meat, may contain a small number of pathogenic bacteria that are harmless to pets. Still, cross-contamination poses a risk to the people who handle the food and the animals (Serra-Castelló et al., 2023). As a result, commercial pet foods should be held to a similar safety standard as human foods. This opinion is because the foods affect not only the pets' health but also the caregivers' safety.
We had dogs at home who were not picky eaters and ate any of our food leftovers, but they never got sick. Due to the remains' scarcity, we shifted to canned pet-grade foods. However, two months down the line, we realized changes in the animals. The dogs still ate well but excreted a lot of waste. They were dull and had rough coats and fleas that never ended despite ongoing treatment. We became more cautious with the food we fed the animals and adopted human feed grades, ensuring the animals were healthy again. Equally important, identifying the similarities and differences in human and pet food safety can help to avoid a similar event.
Both human food and pet food label need to state nutrient content. However, human food gives the actual levels, while animal feed states the minimum or maximum content. As a result, pet food may give a protein v...