How safe is grocery store chicken?

Postby turtle » February 9th, 2013, 1:31 pm

How safe is grocery store chicken?

I am not a member of any raw feeding groups and my husband is not hunting anymore so I don’t have access to many sources for raw meats except the grocery stores.

How safe is regular old grocery store chicken? It is on sale often for about $1.00 a pound and has been the mainstay of the raw diet for my dog, and we also eat grocery store chicken (cooked of course).

But how about these articles?

Antibiotics in chicken linked to bladder infections in humans –

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/h ... -1.1112914

http://grist.org/news/researchers-find- ... tibiotics/

http://grist.org/factory-farms/finally- ... superbugs/

It also says that 80% of the antibiotics in the US are used in livestock. No wonder the Japanese banned the import of US beef.

And what about the arsenic in chicken that is fed to them in their food?

http://www.naturalnews.com/032659_arsen ... z2JdPHSa6y

Does anyone have info on if cooking this meat removes some of the antibiotics/hormones? I would not think that would take out arsenic but does it remove some of the other stuff?

But if chicken is causing bladder infections in people, certainly they are not eating raw chicken so I guess that answers my question…

So if you are feeding grocery store chicken to your dogs, how bad is it? And how different from this chicken is the chicken used in quality kibble and in pre-made raw such as the Nature’s Variety raw patties?

I have switched to eating supposedly (if you can trust the labels!) hormone free antibiotic free chicken these days and I am wondering if I should buy it for dog food too? I can get these chicken quarters for about $1.79 to $2 a pound… so not much different than quality kibble and less than pre-made raw.

Any thoughts on all this…?
-------------------------------------------------------

I may be slow but I get there - a turtle's motto
User avatar
turtle
Loyally Bully
 
Posts: 690

Postby pitbullmamaliz » February 9th, 2013, 9:58 pm

Before I had my venison hook-up, I fed a TON of grocery store chicken to Inara. Only thing I would check religiously was the sodium content - if it was more than 100mg per serving I wouldn't buy it because that would mean they'd added "solution" to plump it up.

Not sure what they use for kibbles.
"Remember - every time your dog gets somewhere on a tight leash *a fairy dies and it's all your fault.* Think of the fairies." http://www.positivepetzine.com"

http://www.pitbullzen.com
http://inaradog.wordpress.com
User avatar
pitbullmamaliz
Working out in the buff causes chafing
 
Posts: 15438
Location: Cleveland, OH

Postby turtle » February 10th, 2013, 12:11 pm

Ahhh thanks! I never thought about added sodium. I will have to take a look, as I am pretty good about reading labels.

Mostly I just buy the cheap on sale chicken thighs, store brand or Tyson, but I know the Tyson chicken is very commercially grown.

The so called natural chicken without the antibiotics and hormones, naturally raised, has a different look to it, it is not so yellow in color nor does it have all the fat on it.

With many of the high end kibbles, they say "human grade" meats, which I would think are the same as the grocery store chicken? But the cooking processes for kibble tends to take much of the nutrients out of it so raw chicken would still be better to my mind.

I also feed some grocery store beef when I can get a roast or cube steak cheap. I don't feed raw hamburger as who knows what they put in that stuff! (i.e. pink slime...)
-------------------------------------------------------

I may be slow but I get there - a turtle's motto
User avatar
turtle
Loyally Bully
 
Posts: 690

Postby pitbullmamaliz » February 10th, 2013, 1:01 pm

I used to feed a lot of pork chops because they had a lovely bone to meat ratio and could be found on sale pretty frequently. Or pork shoulder. I never fed ground anything - all that surface area is begging for bacteria.
"Remember - every time your dog gets somewhere on a tight leash *a fairy dies and it's all your fault.* Think of the fairies." http://www.positivepetzine.com"

http://www.pitbullzen.com
http://inaradog.wordpress.com
User avatar
pitbullmamaliz
Working out in the buff causes chafing
 
Posts: 15438
Location: Cleveland, OH

Postby DemoDick » February 15th, 2013, 12:15 pm

Get the 10 lb bags of quarters from a super Wal-Mart or something. Comes out to like $.69 a lb. You can buy five bags at a time if you have a chest freezer. Check your local butcher and ask about getting the bone dust mixture that accumulates on his band-saw. It's a great mix of bone, meat and fat, and they often have to pay to have it disposed of so they often give it away. And don't worry about making them sick. There is potential sickness in EVERY food item you buy, both for your dogs and for yourself. If you abide by internet wisdom, no matter what you eat you will get sick and die. It's nonsense. The canine/human digestive systems are an amazing adaptation to a world full of microscopic nasties.

And Liz is correct, it has become common practice to "supplement" chicken with various "solutions" to plump them up and increase weight (and therefore price). Boneless, skinless chicken breasts are frequently pumped up with a corn syrup derivative. Just read the ingredients and your dogs will be fine.
"My first priority will be to reinstate the assault weapons ban PERMANENTLY as soon as I take office...I intend to work with Congress on a national no carry law, 1 gun a month purchase limits, and bans on all semi-automatic guns."-Barack Obama
"When in doubt, whip it out."-Nuge
User avatar
DemoDick
They Like to Fondle My Gun
 
Posts: 1910
Location: New York


Return to Raw Feeding

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users

cron