I don't know anything about food standards in other countries. Please could you tell me how they differ to those of the EU? Do you think that they are somehow inferior to our own? On the subject of a balanced raw diet, he does refer to this here:
A cat or dog can meet all its basic nutritional needs from a raw carcase, as long as it obtains the correct balance of essential nutrients.
The comment that is interesting is this one:
"There is no evidence eating a raw diet provides better health than eating prepared food." If anyone can find information to the contrary I would be interested to know of it.
Raw feeding is without doubt very trendy at the moment and I suspect that there are pet owners who are encouraged to change to this by evangelical raw feeders. It is human nature to be led on by what is in vogue at the time - that is why the advertising industry is so successful. It is possible that there are people who feed raw but who do not have a great deal of knowledge about what constitutes a balanced diet and the safe handling of raw meat. It is not safe to assume that everyone who feeds raw has all the expertise or desire to do the job properly. I recall reading another forum some time ago and one poster was offering free meat because it was very fatty and their dogs wouldn't touch it! To me, that is downright irresponsible and a risk factor for the onset of pancreatitis. Additionally, I have seen dogs who are severely underweight on a raw diet. It's fine if the owner is knowledgeable and able to provide a good balanced diet but I suspect that veterinary surgeons more frequently see those who are not.
To me, the article was useful and informative, especially as it was written by a veterinary surgeon. I know it is easy to criticise vets for their supposed lack of knowledge of nutrition - we see lots of it on here but I don't necessarily go along with that. If a dog is made ill by it's diet, the vet is the first port of call, not the people who encouraged the pet owner to feed it in the first place. They are at the sharp end of all this and I am not so I would respect the experience of the vet.