[Guest]

After reading the rave reviews on Arkat I drove into town and scored a 40# bag of VF Puppy for 5 month old Maggie. I noticed a little dust on the bag when they loaded the truck at the dock. Stewed a little on the drive back (should have stopped and looked) and sure enough, back home I find "Best by April 21, 2005". So its a couple months past its prime, and will be much older before the pup works her way through 40 pounds of it. Do I feed it or take it back?

 

[R Williams]

The food may be fine but I would take it back.

 

[Guest]

The nice Arkat customer service lady told me to take it back, as the date on the bag is 18 months after the date of manufacture. Thus the bag was 20+ months old already.

Had to settle for Enhance though.

 

[Terry Britton]

I actually have engineering tables for the shelf life of dried biological materials at home.

More than likely, the bag of dog food would have been fine sine a 5 month old pup would have ate the bag within 6 weeks. The guidlines for best if sold by date are usually taking into concideration that the bag may be stored at a higher temperature than if it were stored in an airconditioned house. The cooler temperatures can extend the shelf life by 50%.

I would need to look up the data at home. I am just going off what I remember from college classes.