Preparing and Feeding BARF Food Cautions

Despite the popularity of feeding a raw diet, there are things to be aware of and to take care with when feeding it to your dog. After all, the BARF diet and similar diets consist primarily of raw meats. The bones that are used in a BARF diet or similar diets are also uncooked and may consist of marrow bones, which may contain blood.

These things require special handling, just as the meat used in human diets requires special handling for safe preparation. It is important to remember that the safety in preparing and feeding these diets consist of several parts: storage, preparation, and serving/handling.

-Storage: When storing your dog's raw diet, be careful to use the same kind of safe storage procedures that you would for other raw meats. If purchased in bulk, store the majority of the food in your freezer. Frozen food should remain frozen. It should not be refrozen even if only partially thawed. Frozen food should be thawed slowly, in the refrigerator, over a period of days. Other methods of thawing degrade the nutrients that the food contains. This degradation is particularly evident in foods that have been defrosted in the microwave, as microwaving for the period required may partially cook the food.

Store thawed food in the refrigerator for only a few days. Use airtight containers to store it, to avoid the meat drying out and to avoid loss of nutritional value. In addition, avoid storing raw meats of any kind on shelves above other kinds of foods to prevent meat juices from contaminating them.

-Preparation: Preparation of raw dog food should be done in a similar fashion to preparing raw human foods. Wear plastic gloves when handling all raw food and wash your hand thoroughly with an antibacterial soap when finished. All counters, bowls, utensils, and other materials that come into contact with the raw meat should be cleaned thoroughly with antibacterial dishwashing liquid. If grinding your own meat, be certain to avoid any meat that may contain brain or spinal tissue. Completely break down any grinder that was used and sterilize it or wash it thoroughly with antibacterial detergent or dishwashing liquid.

-Serving/handling: Use serving utensils and feeding bowls that are dedicated to feeding the raw diet. When finished with serving and when the dog is finished eating, immediately clean utensils and wash bowls using antibacterial soap or detergent. In addition, if any food may have gotten onto the floor or on the surfaces of the feeding area, immediately clean them as well, in the same manner. Any contamination that may have existed in the food will also contaminate those areas as well, which may be spread by your dog to you and to your family.

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