@Sitdowncupoftea
I've never fed my dogs raw they are dogs not wolves. You can get really good quality dog foods now and top up with other things like fish (cooked) etc. I think the raw feeding is a craze that came in a few years ago personally. My vets advice against it due to parasites and bacteria. Its up to you what you feed your dog on but to me there's no benefit from feeding raw.
The first commercial dog food sold in England went on sale in 1860. Prior to that dogs were fed table scraps and bones. So, in evolutionary terms, they’ve been eating commercially prepared foods for a blink of an eye compared to how long they’ve consumed mainly meat and veg.
I haven’t fed raw since 2003 and fed it for years prior to that, so it’s hardly a craze and plenty of vets, including my own at the time, do support it, as long as it’s done properly. I have definitely seen the benefits of feeding raw, with healthy weight dogs that had beautiful shiny coats and sparkling white teeth until the day they died. That’s compared to when I had to switch to kibble and found one of the more highly acclaimed, really expensive, dry foods stained my dogs’ teeth and one of them developed dry, itchy skin, when ostensibly the ingredients should have been similar to what they were being fed on raw. I never had to clean my dogs’ teeth until I stopped feeding raw, now I have to do it daily. Tiny poos and fresh breath is another bonus.
One of my problems with commercial foods is the labelling, even on the more expensive, good quality kibbles. It’s very hard to get a clear an honest picture of what they contain, as there are all sorts of laws governing what they do and don’t have to include on the label.
Also, for me personally, I felt that food where the raw ingredients are so poor quality that they have to be super heated and then extruded, to the extent they then have to spray it with flavourings and multivitamins can’t possibly be healthy long-term.
Obviously there are now cold-pressed and dehydrated foods and even fresh-cooked/home delivered as alternatives as well, so there’s pretty much an option to suit everyone.
That said, as you point out, there are also issues with raw feeding, in terms of bacteria/contamination. If feeding complete raw, it’s important to buy from certificated suppliers who test every batch for contamination - they don’t all do this. With diy raw it’s more complicated and preferable to go for the best, quality human-food-grade raw ingredients you can afford. Plus of course, it’s really important to maintain stringent hygiene when handling it.
I say all of the above as someone who is currently feeding kibble and has a 15 year old, large dog, who has always done so (he’s the wuss that was scared of raw food) and is really healthy for his age.
Ultimately, as you say, it’s down to each of us to research the options and decide what we feel most comfortable with feeding our dogs, within the bounds of what suits them as individuals and what we can reasonable manage (re storage, handling and feeding) on day to day basis.