What does the shelf-life date on dog food mean?

What do the best before dates on the food we buy for our pets actually mean in practice? Well, on dry dog food there's usually a 12 month gap between the time the food is manufactured and the best before date on the packaging. On canned food, it's longer, because the process of canning was specifically designed to seal out oxygen (which is what causes food to go off, through oxidation) and kill off any existing spoilage organisms.

Several factors affect the quality of food while it is in storage, with the main dangers being temperature and moisture (humidity). These can cause the food to spoil or “go off”, and when packaging is porous they can cause mould to grow on the food. Indeed, the packaging itself is also a factor affecting quality of dog food, since paper packaging is most easily torn (thus allowing moisture in), while polythene packaging without perforations can cause the food to “sweat” in hot conditions. Since these things can lead to mold and rancid food, it is necessary to take steps to eliminate them, as both of these things can have serious effects on a dog's health.

 

In order to preserve the food for as long as they possibly can, manufacturers need to stop the fat becoming rancid (“going off”), which is what antioxidants and preservatives are for. The controversial thing about these is that the best antioxidant chemicals are extremely powerful and strong, and many dog experts claim that they are simply not good for dogs to consume. On the other hand, there are alternative versions which are marketed as being more “natural” (although technically they are still chemicals) because they are not as strong and therefore thought to be much less likely to be toxic in any way – but naturally, because they are not as strong, they don't do such a good job of preserving the food, and certainly don't keep it fresh for as long.

And so the decision for consumers: is it better to buy food that is guaranteed to be fresh and not rancid, but which contains strong antioxidants that many dog experts advise owners to look out for and avoid in ingredients lists, or to buy a more “natural” food with less powerful antioxidant chemicals, but which definitely won't keep fresh for as long, and which may well be already going rancid or “off” by the time we buy it?

That's where best before dates on dog food come in. If you really don't want to buy “guaranteed fresh” food because of the antioxidants it contains, then you should be careful to check best before dates, and avoid foods that have less than eight months left before the best before date on the packaging. This is a reasonable level of caution against giving your dog rancid food, although of course it was still made four months before you bought it, and there's no way of knowing the temperature or moisture conditions it has been exposed to in that time. If possible, when buying “natural” foods without powerful antioxidants, search for the packs with the longest possible time left before their best before date.

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