What do you class as "manufactures meat products" Alan? In truth, unless you produce it yourself, its very difficult these days to know what's in our food, fresh or otherwise. Salmon often comes from fish farms and if we thought too much about what goes on there, we'd probably lose our appetites, chicken is often full of antibiotics and the conditions in which a lot of them are reared isn't always ideal,( even in Europe). Spaniels probably did eat more healthily 200 years ago but then so did we, no additives, pesticides, etc etc. Unfortunately its the world we and our dogs have to live in, with the best will in the world most of us have to make compromises and eat according to our means. Wild fish from clean streams and free range chickens who have been fed a natural diet, isn't within everyone's budget. I have chosen to feed Humphrey raw but my last two dogs ate dried or tinned manufactured foods and both lived until they were 15 with no dietry problems.
