dehydrated meat/germs

[mugacoffee]

I'm not sure if I should be posting this here or in 2d friends. I just bought me a dehydrator to make dog treats with and am investigating ways to use it and how to use it properly. My dehydrator goes up to 70c (158f). Is that high enough to kill any bacteria without adding salt or marinades? I don't want to make my dog or any dog I give them too sick. I plan to use thin strips of beef, chicken and salmon.

Jamie

 

[3DStudent]

Dehydrators give an environment where bacteria cannot multiply easily. The absence of water and presence of salt will inhibit bacterial growth. The bacteria die at 160 F, 71 C. The salt helps to kill some bacteria too, so it is best to soak the meat first in a salty brine water overnight. According to this site, you can also cook it for 275 F / 135 C for 10 minutes after dehydrating. If you're still concerned, you can just dry it out more. And even after, putting it in a vacuum sealed bag will keep it for longer.

As far as pets go, dogs are meant to eat raw meat, so it would be even less of a concern. Not that I would advise giving a pet some meat you know is bad or bacteria infested. The point is, if you salt the meat, and dehydrate it enough, it should last for weeks, or months if vacuum sealed.

Better yet, make the jerky into powder and add an equal weight of fat for pemmican. Bacteria doesn't like to grow in fat so it should last even longer. You can put the pemmican in the freezer in plastic bags or vacuum sealed.

 

[mugacoffee]

Thanks for your detailed reply. Is salt ok? I'm worried about adding it as dogs dont deal with it so well.

 

[3DStudent]

Good question on the salt. It looks like even low amounts of salt can be harmful to a dog. See this site for symptoms. This site says that a 33 pound dog can have 100 mg of sodium. A tsp of salt is 2.3 grams, so that's quite a small amount.

I don't know how well jerky would keep without a salt brine soak and covering with salt. Maybe you could do that and store it regularly, and when you go to feed it, boil it and change out the water a few times. I think you'd have to be careful because there's probably a lot of salt to begin with.

It sounds like a lot of work. Maybe you could just find some natural or organic dog treats that would already be safe for dogs. Maybe others have some more ideas..

 

[mugacoffee]

thanks.

I decided to dry meat without adding anything, then after drying placing jerky in an oven for 10 mins to make sure anything still lingering was dead and then placed in freezer.

Jamie