The UK Food Safety Research Network, hosted by Quadram Institute, announced that six food safety projects will receive between £30,000 to £62,000 (roughly $36,544 USD to $73,089 USD) in funds. One of the projects aims to improve food safety of raw pet food formulas.
All six projects involve academic researchers collaborating with commercial companies and/or government agencies within the human and pet food sectors to establish solutions to common food safety issues.
The raw pet food project involves using bacteriophages to help decrease Salmonella contamination in raw pet food products. According to the Quadram Institute, raw pet foods are growing in popularity throughout the United Kingdom as pet parents seek non-processed diets to improve their pets’ health. However, raw pet foods can carry higher risk of contamination compared to their cooked counterparts.