After having just completed a graduate course on Animal Nutrition in the
Ranch Management Program, I feel compelled to inject my 2 cents on feeding
raw meat, and the commentary on washing meat with food-grade hydrogen
peroxide to make it "safe."
 
I will never feed my ferrets raw meat from a U.S. source.  The USDA and
Health Dept. Guidelines for handling meat in this country are not strict
enough to prevent contamination by viruses, bacteria, and parasites.
Although current regulations for meat handling and packing are much stricter
than before (at least for what goes into the HUMAN consumption food stream),
our meat supply is a great source of nasty critters that can make us, and
our ferrets, ill - unless the meat is cooked to a sufficient temperature to
kill the problem.
 
Food-grade hydrogen peroxide may eliminate SOME bacterias, few viruses, and
even fewer parasites and parasite eggs.  Organic meats, while devoid of
chemicals and handled more carefully than other meats, can still carry
diseases - even those picked up in your own kitchen when you open a meat
package.
 
The potential for salmonella, pasteurella, a variety of clostridials
(including botulism), worms, flukes, spirochetes, etc.  are just too great
in human-grade raw meat for me to risk feeding it to my ferrets.  Even a
"fresh kill" meat (such as feeding your ferret a baby chick or mouse) can
harbor all kinds of parasitic organisms.  I won't even get into what "animal
grade" meat is all about.  Too gross to fathom.
 
Go visit a packing plant sometime.  I visited one that was top-rated by
government inspectors for high levels of health, careful handling, etc.  I
would hate to see what a "bad" plant looked like.  Any meat I eat is now
"well done."
 
Thanks,
Erika Matulich
President, Ferret Lovers' Club of Texas
[Posted in FML issue 2127]