- Why Heat Is An Essential Part Of The Cooking Process
- Promoting The Best Nutrient Retention
- Background
- The Results
- Final Thoughts
While we, and the majority of veterinarians, are firm in our opinion that the negatives of a raw diet outweigh the positives, it’s impossible to ignore the high nutrient retention that raw meals see.
Compared to commercial pet foods cooked at extreme temperatures and pressures, raw unprocessed meals can deliver significantly more nutrient-dense meals.
Thankfully, pet parents no longer need to burden themselves with the raw vs. cooked commercial food debate thanks to the home dog food maker: ChefPaw.
ChefPaw applies a very gentle heat of 212°F (100°C) when cooking your dog’s food. Unlike the scorching temperatures commercial brands use that can soar beyond 400°F (200°C), ChefPaw protects the nutritional value of the ingredients that are great for supporting our dogs’ health, like fish, sweet potatoes, leafy greens, and more.
Why Heat Is An Essential Part Of The Cooking Process
While extreme heat is bad when making dog food, heat itself is so important for killing bacteria and parasites that can hitch along on raw ingredients while also improving a meal’s digestibility.
One study showed that nearly 25% of the raw food samples tested positive for harmful bacteria, including Salmonella spp. and Listeria monocytogenes. Bacteria that are not only dangerous for your dog to consume but also pose a health risk to you when handling and preparing. Then these diets tend to be more time-consuming, expensive, and prone to nutrient balances.
We designed ChefPaw to eliminate all the negatives of both raw and commercially cooked foods while reaping all of their benefits. Cooked foods are easier to digest and less prone to upsetting their stomach, i.e. your dog can absorb more nutrients from their meals. Then cooking releases aromatic molecules that delight the senses, awaken the taste buds, and give meals a captivating texture. In other words, your dog is getting a more satisfying meal.
Promoting The Best Nutrient Retention
Many customers make the common misconception when they first start researching ChefPaw that its ability to cook your dog’s food will result in significant nutrient loss. This simply isn’t true!
However, we applaud you for being cautious, as pet food propaganda is an issue, from commercial foods to holistic diets. To bring our customers peace of mind, we went all out to show ChefPaw’s meals are highly nutritious, ensuring your dog is getting everything they need while treating the ingredients and your wallet with respect.
While the theory of food science is definitive in that gentle temperatures, like the ones ChefPaw utilizes, are best for nutrient retention, we wanted an experiment that shows ChefPaw practices what it preaches. So we made two batches of the same recipe and sent them to an independent lab for nutritional analysis.
Background:
For our experiment, one batch was cooked before being sent in and the other was uncooked. Both batches were blended at a high-speed level for 3 minutes to homogenize the ingredients.
The Results:
The results of the experiment are shown below As you’ll see, there is a miniscule difference in nutrients, but nothing drastic. In some cases, the differences show an improvement in the nutrient value of the cooked meal.
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NUTRITIONAL RESULTS BEFORE & AFTER COOKING WITH CHEFPAW |
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BEFORE COOKING (recipe #1a) test date = 7/16/2024 |
AFTER COOKING (recipe #1a) test date = 7/16/2024 |
Notes: |
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MOISTURE |
74.4% |
73.6% |
Results indicate that less than 1% of water is lost when cooking with ChefPaw.** |
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PROTEIN |
6.01% |
5.53% |
Results indicate that less than 8% of protein is lost when cooking with ChefPaw.** |
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FAT |
5.09% |
5.06% |
Results indicate that less than 1% of fat is lost when cooking with ChefPaw.** |
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FIBER |
0.37% |
1.67% |
Results indicate that cooking with ChefPaw softens foods to increase soluble dietary fiber and converts some starch into a type of fiber called resistant starch. which can lessen blood sugar spikes.** |
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ASH |
0.96% |
1.00% |
Ash content increases slightly as moisture content is lowered slightly. |
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CARBOHYDRATES |
13.52% |
14.82% |
Results indicate that cooking with ChefPaw increases the digestibility and bioavailability of carbs.** |
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CALORIES (calories per 1000 grams) |
1103 |
1084 |
Results indicate little to no calories are lost when cooking with ChefPaw. The Chefpaw app uses the USDA database of foods to calculate expected caloric content. ** |
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**Batch samples were gently blended at speed level 5 (approx 250 rpm) for 3 minutes to homogenize the samples from each batch. Since no 2 samples of any given batch will ever be 100% identical, a 2% margin for error should be assumed with all results. |
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As you can see, ChefPaw protects the whole foods that are so important to support your dog’s health. In fact, as we can see above, there will be times when cooking your dog’s food improves the digestibility of the ingredients. This is important to keep in mind when comparing the nutritional values of cooked and raw foods, as the digestibility of raw ingredients can make it difficult for your dog to absorb all the nutrients they provide.
ChefPaw takes the benefits of raw meals that have a high nutrient value and eliminates all the negatives. It does this again with commercial foods; avoiding all the tricks like hidden ingredients and poor fillers commercial brands love to use.
However, ChefPaw takes it up a notch, with its nutrient analyzer that customizes recipes to your dog’s breed, age, weight, and activity level. Then it provides a complete nutritional breakdown of its entire meals. This is especially important when making dog food at home as it’s very easy to give incomplete meals without you knowing until it starts causing issues for your dog.
All this gives your dog fresh meals that are safer and better tailored to support their health, letting you break away from expensive commercial foods and subscriptions. This also cuts down on non-recyclable packaging that commercial foods rely on which clutter landfills.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, there is little reason to fear heat when it’s properly used to cook our dogs’ food. Simply put, it creates healthier, mouthwatering, and more affordable meals. Just make sure to allow your dog’s food to cool down before serving, just like you would do on your own.
Speaking of us, did you know that cooking food greatly aided human evolution? Directly contributing to our larger brains and higher intelligence while creating a greater sense of community. It also helped open the door to us establishing a long and fruitful relationship with our furry best friends via domestication. It’s hard to imagine what our lives would look like if we never used heat to cook our foods!