Pet Nutritionist

Is Raw Feeding Safe?

There is also a lot of fear-based messaging about pathogens in raw food, especially online, so it makes sense that owners wanting to provide the best for their pets may feel inclined to heed these warnings.

Ben Mather | August 5, 2026

The safety of raw feeding is one of the most common – and most valid – concerns people have when it comes to exploring raw diets for dogs and cats. And it makes perfect sense when you consider that food safety messaging around raw meat is fairly universal and, with a few exceptions, we typically cook our meat as a reliable way to minimise risks. There is also a lot of fear-based messaging about pathogens in raw food, especially online, so it makes sense that owners wanting to provide the best for their pets may feel inclined to heed these warnings.

The good news is that this isn’t black and white, and when we look at what we actually know about pathogens, food safety and the digestive systems of dogs and cats, we can comfortably adopt a nuanced approach grounded in evidence, not fear.

It’s absolutely true that cooking is one reliable way to destroy pathogenic bacteria, so the likelihood that there are bacteria present in raw food may be higher. But treating raw pet food like it’s uniquely dangerous ignores some important context. And if we’re going to use human food as a point of comparison, we must also acknowledge that there are widespread examples of humans consuming raw meat without issue, such as in sushi, steak tartare, and even the eggs in mayonnaise (or a whiskey sour, if that’s your vice).

Similarly, the same food safety habits you already use for your own meal prep – such as washing your hands and utensils, cleaning surfaces with antibacterial products, and using only food that’s fresh – are equally as effective when preparing your pet’s food, both to protect them and yourself.

The importance of sourcing your meat from licenced suppliers that you trust and who utilise ingredients from the human supply chain (which is what is in all RAW K-9 products) is paramount and one of the simplest and most effective things you can do to lower pathogen exposure from the outset. Contrary to what you may hear, raw pet food in Australia is not totally unregulated, but it is true that meat intended for human consumption is more stringently regulated than meat intended to be eaten by animals.

But this is not without reason, and it helps to remember that cats and dogs aren’t just small, fragile versions of us. Their digestive systems evolved over thousands of years on a diet of primarily animal tissue, and this is still just as evident today as it was then. Dog and cat stomachs run considerably more acidic than the human stomach, making them well placed to neutralise most pathogens that may be present in raw meat. They also produce far more stomach acid than we do, which is why they’re able to fully digest things like bones, and constantly do gross stuff like drink out of puddles without getting sick.

Their saliva also contains many compounds that are designed to protect them from infection, such as the enzymes lysozyme and peroxidase, and the protein lactoferrin, which are antimicrobial constituents[1]. One study found that 7 of the top 10 most abundant proteins in dog saliva have immune functions, and 4 out of the top 10 most abundant peptides have antimicrobial functions. They note that “one of the most important functions of saliva is to protect the oral cavity and indirectly other organs against infections”[2].

When this is combined with the quick transit time through a relatively short GI tract, the feline and canine digestive system is the perfect design for keeping bacterial populations low and ensuring beneficial gut bacteria outcompete the pathogenic kind before illness can take hold. This is not to say pathogens are a non-issue, but it does mean your dog or cat isn’t approaching raw meat with the same vulnerability a human would.

The studies that have been conducted to measure the bacteria present in raw pet food have returned wildly different results and are usually taken from fairly small sample sizes, but the FDA conducted a 2-year investigation in 2010-2012 that found 8% of raw pet food contained Salmonella, and 16% contained E.coli[3].

This may seem alarming because Salmonella is a known, common cause of gastroenteritis in humans, but it’s important to remember that merely the presence of Salmonella in pet food (or even in your pet), doesn’t necessarily equate to illness. There are thousands of serotypes of Salmonella, while only 50-100 cause illness in humans. The FDA investigation did not go so far as to determine whether the Salmonella detected in raw pet food were pathogenic varieties, or the harmless kind.

This aligns with the advice of the Merck Veterinary Manual, which acknowledges that “many dogs and cats are carriers of Salmonella” but that “dogs and cats are usually subclinical carriers [and]…acute cases of salmonellosis occur infrequently[4]”

If we look at the data on incidents of illness from zoonotic transfer (from a raw fed pet to a human) or from direct contact with raw pet food, you’d struggle to feel anything but reassured. According to Dr Connor Brady, there have only been four documented cases worldwide linking salmonellosis in humans to raw pet food[5]. Similarly, a large-scale survey conducted by researchers at the University of Helsinki asked 16,475 households with raw fed pets and found that only 24 suspected raw pet food to be the source of illness during the period they had been feeding it (which spanned decades, in some cases), and only 3 had determined this definitely[6]. A 2022 review in the New Zealand Veterinary Journal determined that this equated to roughly 0.2% of raw-feeding households reporting any transmission of pathogens from pet to human[7].

Another important bit of context to consider is that pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella isn’t something that uniquely impacts raw pet food. In fact, there have been thousands of tonnes of dry pet food recalled due to Salmonella contamination over time (using data from the US, as Australia has no mandatory recall system for pet food), and in 2012 alone the CDC determined that 53 people were found to have contracted salmonellosis from dry pet food or their dry-fed dogs[8]. This is simply to say that in order to weigh up the risk that raw pet food poses in a meaningful way, we must also consider the risk posed by other feeding styles.

We think it’s wise to be conscious of bacteria and pathogens in any food you or your pets consume, but we don’t think it’s something you need to endlessly worry about.

So, is raw feeding safe? We say yes, so long as you keep a few things in mind.