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[Joyce]

I just picked up a couple of 25 pound bags of my Mazuri Chinchilla Pellets at a local pet store who now stocks it.  The mill dates on each bag are the same..... June 9, 2006.  How long are these pellets still OK for the chins after the mill date on bag.  There is never an expiration date.  Every time I have gotten it before the mill date on bag has been pretty much the exact same month that I buy it.  When you open the bag it smells sooooo good & fresh you could almost eat it yourself!!!

Jo Ann, I remember you adressing this before but I couldn't remember the time you had suggested the food be used from the manufacturer mill date.  Something stuck in my head like 3 months or so.  If that is the case these bags should be returned and not opened?

[Jo Ann]

Hi Joyce,
 
I contacted Mazuri and this is the response I got:

Thank you for contacting Mazuri. 
The shelf life of Mazuri Chinchilla Diet is 9 months post manufacture. 
Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Sincerely,
Tricia A. Lutman
Marketing & Technical
  Communications Manager
(314)768-4861

The "post manufacture" is past the mill date which is stamped on the bag.  Apparently it has changed from what I was told a long time ago.  Who knows, maybe removing the corn and changing some of the processes gives it a longer shelf life.   

 
Jo Ann

[Joyce]

   Thank you, Thank you!!!!   Jo Ann, you are truly wonderful for doing that for me!  I never even thought to call Mazuri.  You know my brain & how it works these days!  OK, well I guess this food is OK to hang onto.   

[chinclub]

FYI...I don't think I would feed it nine months out even though they say it is fine...but then I also won't eat meat if its the day before the expiration date! 

I have noticed that you can look at a bag of food and tell how fresh it is.  As it gets older the pellets will get more brittle and there will be alot more crumbs in the bottom of the bag.  If you are filing a container and then using that to feed the chinchillas you will notice a lot more dust even in the cup you use to scoop it.  When it gets like that I stop using it.  I think temperature has a lot to do with it.  My feed comes in large trucks unairconditioned (is that a word?)  and the feed store also doesn't air condition so my food breaks down faster in the summer.  In the winter it always arrives looking fresher and lasts longer.

(FYI...Ralph Shoots eats a few of his chinchilla pellets to tell how fresh they are.  I do not recommend doing this!  I got brave one day and tasted a pellet and let me tell you it DOES NOT taste like it smells.  I was outside heaving in the grass in no time!    :-[

[Jo Ann]

My dogs love chin food, of course they love chin poops also, so that doesn't attest to the taste much either!   

    You brought up a good subject everyone needs to check-out/think about.  Most stores do not consider the fact that animal food needs to be kept in air-conditioning .  Most feed stores do not keep the feed in the area that is airconditioned.  I had to ask and remind the ones I get mine from, to keep it out of the heat.  Generally, it comes in a truck that is also, not airconditioned.  I would not want to use it past 6 months either, but that's me.  Like Jamie says, just watch for the breakdown.

     Those bags/containers that do not have an expiration or mill date on them, I will not even consider buying them.

 
Jo Ann