One of the most im­por­tant things own­ers can do to keep their pets healthy and hap­py is to pro­vide a nu­tri­tious di­et. Pet food and treats can be con­t­a­m­i­nat­ed with harm­ful bac­te­ria that cause food­borne ill­ness­es such as sal­mo­nel­losis and lis­te­rio­sis. Im­prop­er stor­age can al­so ex­pose foods to pests such as in­sects and rats (which trans­mit dis­eases such as lep­tospiro­sis). Pet own­ers can low­er the risk of food­borne ill­ness from con­t­a­m­i­nat­ed pet food and treats by fol­low­ing safe han­dling in­struc­tions.

While most types of processed, pre-pack­aged wet or dry pet food re­main fresh for a long time when un­opened, they are print­ed with “best be­fore” dates, and while this does not mean that the food goes bad im­me­di­ate­ly af­ter this date, it is in­ad­vis­able to feed your pet with this food months af­ter these dates have passed. You should there­fore check for ex­pi­ra­tion dates when pur­chas­ing food, in ad­di­tion to ex­am­in­ing pack­ag­ing for vis­i­ble signs of dam­age such as dents and holes.

Store un­opened wet and dry pet food in a cool, dry lo­ca­tion. It is not rec­om­mend­ed to leave the bag on the floor or out­side where it is ex­posed to the weath­er, in­sects and ro­dents.

Once pet food has been opened, it rapid­ly starts to be­come stale, and the risk of con­t­a­m­i­na­tion starts to in­crease. It should be stored in ways that are sim­i­lar to how hu­man food is stored. Left­over tinned food should be trans­ferred to a con­tain­er with a lid and can be stored in the re­frig­er­a­tor for up to a week. Meal-size por­tions of wet food can al­so be frozen and then in­di­vid­u­al­ly thawed in the re­frig­er­a­tor when need­ed.

Dry food should be stored in the orig­i­nal bag be­cause these bags are spe­cial­ly de­signed to help keep the food fresh. Plac­ing the tight­ly fold­ed bag in a sealed con­tain­er will keep the food fresh­er and pro­tect it from pests and oth­er an­i­mals. Min­imis­ing the food’s con­tact with air, hu­mid­i­ty, and the el­e­ments is the best way to keep it fresh.

While some pets gob­ble all their food in one go, oth­ers take their time and may eat a lit­tle at first and leave food back to re­vis­it at a lat­er stage. Wet foods spoil quick­ly when left out and any un­eat­en por­tions should be dis­card­ed af­ter four hours.

Dry foods can be left out for up to 24 hours but be aware that ex­po­sure to the air, sali­va from your pet’s mouth and bac­te­ria from the en­vi­ron­ment all con­tribute to the food be­com­ing con­t­a­m­i­nat­ed and go­ing stale. The longer food is left out, the more op­por­tu­ni­ty there is for it to at­tract pests.

Pet food bowls and wa­ter bowls should be washed dai­ly with soap and wa­ter to get rid of bac­te­ria, mould and scum build-up. Pet food stor­age con­tain­ers should be cleaned reg­u­lar­ly. When a new bag of food is re­plac­ing the old one, the con­tain­ers should al­so be washed with soap and wa­ter, and thor­ough­ly dried.

Nev­er feed your dog or cat foods that ap­pear spoiled or con­t­a­m­i­nat­ed. Throw out bulging cans or any food that looks or smells bad. Fi­nal­ly, re­mem­ber to wash your hands both be­fore and af­ter han­dling your pet’s food.

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