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I can't remember where I read it, but most dog food recalls for salmonella happen because people can become very sick from handling the dog food. The dogs actually have no problem eating it and not getting sick.
Dogs can become severely ill from eating nasty things. That said dogs evolved to have a much higher tolerance to eating things like bacteria infected meat. They are opportune feeders and evolved a stronger digestive system than humans have with stronger stomach acid to tolerate food that people can't including animals that have been dead for a while.
The best example of this are vultures. They can eat any meat no matter how rotten it is. They also have the strongest stomach acid in the animal world.
Canine stomach pH, a measure of acidity, is actually higher than human. The lower the pH, the more acidic it is.
It appears that rather than simple stomach acidity, the GI tract of the vulture has adapted to tolerate some really nasty bacteria. That suggests to me that the immune system is involved.
I've seen dogs eat some gnarly things and they don't seem to suffer for it. Why?
Been feeding my dogs a raw diet for 8 years. They have enzymes in their saliva that kill bacteria, and they have a much shorter digestive tract than humans. Because of that, nothing is hanging out around in there, like it does with humans. Their digestive system also has high levels of hydrochloric acid which means the bacteria aren't going to survive long enough to make them sick. From start to finish, it takes about 8 hours to fully digest what they ate, compared to humans who take anywhere from 24-72 hours. That's a long time for bacteria to set up camp and wreak havoc on your system.
As for the salmon, PNW salmon has to be frozen for some time before a dog can eat it raw. That salmon can be from northern CA all the way up to Alaska. At no time should anyone ever feed their dog raw PNW salmon unless it has been frozen for at least a week, preferably more, to kill the parasite that can be found in the salmon.
To avoid picking up a food borne illness, you have to kill (almost) all the invaders. June 6th D-Day wouldn't have been successful if we had only sent one raft with 6 guys in it to Omaha Beach.
Our stomach acid is so strong we can't replicate it in the lab with conventional techniques. But some bacteria have evolved to resist it.
Rotten meat doesn't always have pathogenic bacteria in it. Not all bacteria cause disease.
Our human ancestors evolved doing a lot of scavenging. Their immune systems were just as tough as a wolf's, but Civilized Man feeds his offspring sterilized milk, baby foods, etc etc-- we don't get exposed as early, as much or as often as our ancestors (unless you eat in restaurants a lot) or as our dogs. They develop immunity (if they don't die from the first exposure).
We could be more cavalier about exposing ourselves to dirty food and develop strong immune systems too, but risk contacting an overwhelming exposure in the process.
Saliva contains "secretory immunoglobulins," and dogs' have even more than us. That's why they (and us) like to "lick our wounds." It helps. But dog saliva often contains a Pasteurella sp that's pathogenic to us.
OP, Google is your friend. If you can post these questions on threads on C-D, you can find the answers from reliable sources online instead of getting answers from people who don't always know what they're talking about.
Dogs do get sick from Salmonella and other food borne illnesses. A healthy dog may not get sick, but age and illness can make a dog susceptible to food borne illnesses.
I've seen dogs eat some gnarly things and they don't seem to suffer for it. Why?
Many American dogs are vaccinated against canine diseases.
But word of advice, don't go to Thailand. You'll see all kinds abadone/neglected dogs with every sickness in the book who were never given such vaccinations or veternarian care.
My vet just cautioned me on the raw meat I feed my dogs due to pathogens, but I freeze the meat for over 3 weeks which greatly reduces them.
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