A Full Analysis of the Nutritional Value of Dog Meat and the Food Safety Controversy

In the traditional diets of some regions, dog meat was once regarded as a winter tonic food, and the folk belief that it is warm and heating in nature and can ward off cold and warm the body is widely circulated; related records also appear in some traditional medical literature. However, these claims mostly remain at the level of experience and have not been systematically verified by modern nutrition science.

From the perspective of modern nutrition, dog meat is the meat of a mammal, and its composition is broadly similar to common livestock meats such as pork and beef, mainly providing protein, fat, B vitamins and minerals such as iron and zinc. In terms of protein quality, it is essentially no different from ordinary livestock and poultry meat, and the folk claim that it is highly nourishing is not rigorous.

Special attention should be paid to the fact that dogs have not been included in the national catalog of livestock and poultry genetic resources, meaning that dogs are no longer regarded as livestock in terms of regulation and that there is a lack of standardized slaughtering and quarantine systems. Dog meat of unknown origin may carry rabies virus, parasites or drug residues, and the risk of eating it is relatively high; some cities, including Shenzhen and Zhuhai, have explicitly banned the consumption of dog meat.

In addition, dog meat consumption also involves social controversies such as animal welfare and the theft and robbery of pet dogs, and the focus of public discussion has long shifted from nutritional value to whether it should be eaten at all. Overall, rather than obsessing over the nutritional value of dog meat, it is better to choose common livestock and poultry meats with standardized sources and qualified quarantine, which offer greater guarantees of both safety and legality.