Leading pet food supplier Natures Menu has hit back at claims made in a national daily newspaper that ‘deadly bugs in trendy raw pet foods pose a risk to owners’.

The Daily Mail ran a story on its website on Saturday reporting that Public Health England had issued a warning about raw food for pets making humans seriously ill.

But Craig Taylor, Managing Director at Natures Menu, told Pet Trade Xtra this week: “The recent Public Health England investigation has raised some important points for the industry and as Europe’s leading experts in raw we felt it important to add our wealth of experience to the debate.

“Over our heritage spanning 37 years, we feel there is no evidence to suggest that pets fed on a frozen raw diet are more likely to spread bacteria to humans," added Craig (pictured right).

“We of course always promote good hygiene practices for raw feeding and work closely with the PFMA on raw guidelines here in the UK. Furthermore our industry is carefully controlled by the relevant authorities and submits to all testing required, as well as abiding by all relevant EU legislation.

“We therefore believe that the risk to customers in handling raw pet food is no higher than that of handling raw meat for their own consumption, providing basic hygiene rules are implemented.

“Raw feeding responsibly is completely safe and pets love and thrive on a natural diet of quality ingredients, with countless customers and vets reporting significant health benefits, and we are determined to continue to educate pet owners and the industry on the benefits of responsible raw feeding.”

The Daily Mail story reported that Whitehall scientists said feeding dogs fashionable raw meat diets puts their owners at risk.

In its latest report, Public Health England said a food poisoning outbreak in August 2017 left four people seriously ill. One unnamed victim died of acute kidney failure.

The common link between all four cases – in the North East and South East – was contact with dogs.

The Daily Mail reported that all four were struck down by the same STEC bug – shiga toxin-producing E coli – and three dogs were fed on raw meat diets containing green tripe, the untreated contents of cows’ stomachs.

PHE said that its report suggested ‘an increasing trend in potential risk to humans from raw pet food’.

The full Daily Mail story can be read by clicking here