⠀ What is the shelf-life of Purina products?

[casportpony]

@DrMikelleRoeder , assume a bag is stored in a cool, dry place, what is the shelf-life of the various Purina crumbles and pellets?

-Kathy

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Most feed companies use the same preservatives, usually ethoxyquin. Ground seeds lose nutrients quickly. It's difficult to say how long the added vitamins, both water and fat soluble as well as added amino acids remain nutritious. Responsible companies don't keep feed more than 6 months. I don't feed anything over 3 months.
I sending some feed to Land o Lakes to be analyzed this week.

 

[DrMikelleRoeder]

If ethoxyquin is used, it must be listed in the ingredient listing. In fact, all preservatives must be listed, and new labeling regulations stipulate that preservatives must be identified as such [e.g., propionic acid (a preservative)]. Many vitamins are stabilized so that, under good storage conditions, they will be viable for a long time. Minerals are generally quite stable. Fats, if not stabilized with either chemical or natural antioxidants, will oxidize under poor storage conditions. It is always wise to take feed home from the feed store immediately (as in don't drive around all day with it lying in the sun in the bed of the pick-up) and store it in a cool, dry area, up off the ground (especially if that ground is concrete), and away from windows where the sun may shine in on it. The better care the feed is given, the longer it retains its nutritional integrity.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Thanks for that response Dr.. So both water and fat soluble vitamins are stabilized? If that's the case, as the OP asked, what would the shelf life of those vitamins be in ideal storage conditions. Do you analyze feed that is older than freshly manufactured?

 

[DrMikelleRoeder]

If you look at an ingredient tag that is using chemical terms to describe the vitamins (as opposed to simply saying, for instance, Vitamin A supplement), you will often see words like "acetate", "hydrochloride", "bisulfite", etc., which are all stabilized forms, and these apply to both water-soluble and fat-soluble vitamins. I have personally seen analyses where vitamins were still active in nutritionally adequate concentrations after a year of ideal storage, but I certainly would not go so far as to say that we should be feeding anything that is a year old. But if properly stored, feeds will retain their nutritional integrity much longer than most people realize. Conversely, many people do not realize how destructive poor storage can be -- I have seen some pretty questionable feed storage arrangements over the course of my career. People always want someone to put hard numbers to shelf-life, but in reality, it is a range at best that depends on many factors -- storage conditions, physical form (meals, for instance, have much more surface area and therefore exposure to oxygen, moisture, etc., than pellets, so they will not last as long), mineral content (products with very high mineral contents, like combined vitamin and mineral supplements can potentially result in shorter shelf-life of the vitamins, depending on the forms used), fat and moisture content (high-fat and/or high-moisture products will generally have shorter shelf-lives), etc. But the primary determinant is really how that feed is treated once it has been manufactured. I hope that helps explain this topic.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Very helpful, thanks.
And that storage is out of the hands of the manufacturer.
Hot and humid here in the summer and I only have so much space for cool dry storage, but not really a problem since I go through most of my orders in a month.

 

[casportpony]

From another thread:

Shelf-life is greatly impacted by storage conditions. If ideally stored in a cool, dry environment, up off of the floor, from the point of manufacture, poultry feed will retain its nutritional integrity for many months (6 to 8 months for a crumble, nearly a year for a pellet). However, poor storage conditions will contribute to the deterioration of any feed. Moisture is the most dangerous external factor, and excessive heat is a close second. Don't drive around all day with a load of feed in the back of the pick-up when it's hot and humid, and never store feed on a concrete floor, as that will concentrate moisture in the bottom of the bag. Don't store bags or feed containers where sunlight will come through a window and heat them up every day.

-Kathy