The way you store your dog and cat food will impact how well it will stay fresh for. As a general rule of thumb, here at Delicate Care we recommend that dry pet food should always be kept in a cool, dark place, away from sunlight. Once open, the bags should be resealed to maintain freshness. If the bags do not have a resealing feature, it is ideal that the food is transferred to an airtight container. Here are some common questions we get asked about our packaging process. Then we will touch on some general questions about pet food storage and share with you some helpful tips.
How does our packaging keep food fresh?
All Delicate Care™ products are naturally preserved without the use of any artificial preservatives.
The main culprits in spoiling dry pet food are oxygen, humidity and light. Our aim is to preserve the freshness of our products through the use of the most up to date technology in packaging.
All our plastic bags are multi-layered plastic laminates, with a metallized layer in the middle.
This metallized layer delivers the lowest oxygen, light and water vapour transfer rates, which serves to protect our pet food.
You will also notice that in each bag of Delicate Care™, there is an oxygen absorber sachet. Once the bag is sealed, the oxygen absorber pad will absorb all the remaining oxygen in the bag, so much so that sometimes our bags look vacuum packed.
Why do our bags look vacuumed packed?
Each bag of Delicate Care™ is hand packed at the factory. Our packing crew ensures that each bag is “de-aired” to remove as much oxygen from the bag prior to sealing.
You will notice that there is a small oxygen absorber pad/sachet inside each Delicate Care™ bag.
This sachet is included in the sealed bag to absorb whatever oxygen is left in the bag to keep the product fresh.
Oxygen is the main cause of oxidation and rancidity. As this little pad absorbs oxygen inside the package, the bag can look vacuum packed.
HOW TO STORE DRY DOG FOOD LONG TERM
So now that you understand our process for food packaging you maybe wondering how you can store dry food long term? If you follow the above information you will have no problems, just storing delicate Care food in the bags it comes in. However some people like to bulk store their pet food in other ways.
Using the original packaging
You can just continue to store your pets food in the original packaging if it is up to standard like our Delicate Care range when it comes to storage. Just make sure that your seal the bag and try your best to remove most of the air inside the packaging. Storing in a cool and dry place away from sunlight.
Airtight Dog Food Storage Containers
We suggest heading over to Pinterest and getting some great ideas on some of the endless ways to creatively store your dog and cats food in a airtight storage containers. But what type of containers should you use? Well as long as they are either plastic or stainless steel they should be fine for storing dry food as long as they are airtight. Stainless steel is often more popular with pet parents for storing pet food as they are easier to clean and last longer.
If you are quiet the DIY expert this could be a great project if you are interested in making something that is completely custom to your home for your pets.
THINGS TO AVOID WHEN STORING YOUR PETS FOOD
It is important to not expose the food to air. Make sure to seal back up your dog and cat food after every time you feed them. Exposing food to air and humidity can speed up the rate at which pet foods degrade and increase the risk of bacterial contamination like Salmonella.
Keep your pets food away from and out of sunlight. As the onset of sunlight and humidity can also increase the chances of degrading and increase the risk of bacterial contamination.
Avoid mixing your old dog food with a fresh and new batch of food. If you store your dog food in a large airtight container and you have a little bit left of a previous batch make sure to use this all up first before opening up a new packaged of food. This will increase the chances of spoiling the new food.
HOW TO TELL IF DRY DOG FOOD IS BAD
When storing your dog or cat food it is very important to keep the food safe and make sure that you know if it is going bad for your pets health. No matter where you store your pets food, make sure it stays dry and fresh.
A good test to see if your pets food has gone bad is to smell and if you can identify a ‘off’ odour then that is a sign your pets food is bad.
Also look for signs of mould, moisture and bugs in your pets food. When they are eating pay close attention to their behaviour. If your pooch for example, stops eating and turns their nose up to the food, then you know something may not be right.
CAN DRY DOG FOOD GO BAD IN HEAT?
As dry dog food goes bad when it is exposed to oxygen, humidity and light. When heat is not always direct sunlight, it could be just a hot day. The food still may have some risk in spoiling in the heat. As the most likely cause here could be the humidity. This will make dry dog food get drier, and allowing the dry dog food to be stored in a hot environment is not recommended. Try your best to store some place where it is always cool.
WHERE TO STORE DOG FOOD IN THE HOUSE?
It seems the best place to store dry dog food in your house is in a pantry or cupboard that is away from where your dog might be able to access. Such locations will be great for keeping the food cool and out of sight from any midnight snacks your dog might be planning.
