Sell by dates on pet food

7 Aug 2011

Quote by Danne
however cooking doesnt kill all germs, that i do know, especially a particular bug that you can find in rice
i agree that it is important to cook food, especially meat properly (certain temps etc) but some germs cans till be there and make people/pets ill

Cooking to the correct temperature will make the food safe. What makes food unsafe is when the food is contaminated after and the time/temperature/ph level/water level is ok to support bacterial growth.
You are thinking of Clostridium Botulinum or any other spore former that is associated with rice. What people forget is that uncooked rice could be contaminated with a spore former but the bacteria can't grow as uncooked rice is dry i.e. the water level is below that to support bacterial growth. When rice is cooked the water level increases and this will now support bacterial growth. If the rice is eaten straight away then there is no problem. If you keep the rice, and not under refrigerated conditions i.e. 1-4 degree celsius then the clostridium will multiply until it reaches a number where it would be harmful to humans.
In short, cook your rice and eat it will not harm a person. Keep it under chilled conditions for 2-3 days, re-heat it once and eat will also be ok but with a slightly increased risk. Leave it out at room temperature after cooking for 3 days then there is a very increased risk of being ill. But this is not guarenteed as the bacteria has to be there and has to meet the other parameters to grow.
People may recognise Botulinum as it affects humans by attacking the nervous system. Some people pump a similar bacterium into their faces to get rid of wrinkles under its trade name of Botox
Dave_Notts

8 Aug 2011

dave thats not what i was refering to
there is one bug that heat doesnt kill in rice but i cant think what its called and i didnt take much notice in the training cus at work we bin rice not used at the time the meal is served smile

8 Aug 2011

Bacillus cereus causes nausea, vomitting and diarrhea and can be found in cooked rice.

8 Aug 2011

Quote by Danne
dave thats not what i was refering to
there is one bug that heat doesnt kill in rice but i cant think what its called and i didnt take much notice in the training cus at work we bin rice not used at the time the meal is served

To ensure a spore former is killed is by treating it to the botulinum cook i.e. above 122 degree celsius. This is what they use in the canning industry to ensure that the food inside is safe.
However, the levels in dry product should not be enough to allow harm to humans as the primary product would have to comply with food standards. As long as simple food safety procedures are followed then there is no problem. Cooking, eating and throwing is one way to reduce the risk, as is cook, cool, keep at 4 degree and below for a maximum of 3 days and then re-heat once and eat. Any left over is thrown away. Either is a safe way
Dave_Notts

8 Aug 2011

Quote by AlanStone
Bacillus cereus causes nausea, vomitting and diarrhea and can be found in cooked rice.

Yep, and it is also a sporeformer that can protect itself from the heat process. There are others but B. cereus is the main one in rice
Dave_Notts

8 Aug 2011

well obviously the person doing the training i go to is wrong ! smile

8 Aug 2011

i have done extensive training but some of it wasnt relevent to my line of work so i didnt pay as much attention to that as i did to the parts that were relevent, hence, i do remmber being told about someting in rice that cant be killed by heat when re heating but we dont re heat rice so i didnt take the rest of that part of the training in and saved my brain power for what was relevent to me and my line of work smile

8 Aug 2011

All microbes (bacteria and fungus) are killed be heat - some need higher heat than others. Most viruses are rendered inactive by heat, but not all. Toxins may be denatured by heat or not.
Far fewer are dmaged/killed by cold. Cold - even freezing - just slows down their growth.

8 Aug 2011

Quote by flower411
I sold a woman a bag of guinea pig museli and she brought it back a couple of days later cos she had noticed that the sell by date was out by a day on the day she had bought it.
No problem ....i replaced it with one that was well within date ....just a bit of an oversight....
But personally .....and as it happens to the friend I gave the bag to......I`m not sure that slightly out of date guinea pig museli would worry me that much .
He reckons his guinea pigs haven`t said a word !!!!!
As I understand it the manufacturers have to put a sell by date on a lot of animal feeds because they have to guarantee a certain vitamin and stuff content .....this gives horse feed etc a very short shelf life despite the fact that it is totally ok to eat ....
Most professional people appear to be aware of this and don`t fuss at all ...
Would you feed your pets out of date food ?

the dog eats all the outta date ham n stuff...........n left over roast dinner meat
n i`ve never checked sell by on herbie gerbie`s stuff!!

10 Aug 2011

To be totally honest Im sitting here now eating out of date yoghurt, it looks fine and tasty yummy. Yoghurt is basically off milk anyway. So would I give my pets out of date food, yes. Obviously if the food I was going to give them looked rank and smelt off then I would not feed it to anyone including my pets.
Also as a point of interest, cat and dog food has to be fit for human consumption and actually has human testers.

10 Aug 2011

tigersgobounce69 says:-
"Also as a point of interest, cat and dog food has to be fit for human consumption and actually has human testers".
So where I go dogging all the deer that get killed on the roads by car that get taken to a pet food processing company when turned into animal food has to be fit for human consumption-----------I dont think so the state of some of the deer and how long they have been at side of road.

10 Aug 2011

Quote by tigersgobounce69
To be totally honest Im sitting here now eating out of date yoghurt, it looks fine and tasty yummy. Yoghurt is basically off milk anyway. So would I give my pets out of date food, yes. Obviously if the food I was going to give them looked rank and smelt off then I would not feed it to anyone including my pets.
Also as a point of interest, cat and dog food has to be fit for human consumption and actually has human testers.

Yoghurt is pasturised, therefore all the pathogenic (harmful to humans) bacteria has been killed. However, spoilage bacteria hasn't. So if there is no mould on top of your yoghurt then no problem.
What is the problem with off milk? I know a guy who doesn't drink milk but chews it. I.e. the milk is pasturised so pathogenic bacteria is not present, the spoilage keeps working and the milk, after time, starts to go lumpy (just to note he hasn't opened the bottle to allow new bacteria to enter at this point)..........thats when he starts to chew it. Turns my stomache but it won't harm him and it is what he likes.
Dave_Notts

10 Aug 2011

Quote by AlanStone
tigersgobounce69 says:-
"Also as a point of interest, cat and dog food has to be fit for human consumption and actually has human testers".
So where I go dogging all the deer that get killed on the roads by car that get taken to a pet food processing company when turned into animal food has to be fit for human consumption-----------I dont think so the state of some of the deer and how long they have been at side of road.

Whats wrong with road kill? Whats wrong with hanging meat, as they do with most game..........its what gives the game its taste?
As long as the meat, when slaughtered, is fit then there should be no problem as the meat is cooked and the bacteria is killed
Dave_Notts

10 Aug 2011

Quote by Dave__Notts
Yoghurt is pasturised, therefore all the pathogenic (harmful to humans) bacteria has been killed. However, spoilage bacteria hasn't. So if there is no mould on top of your yoghurt then no problem.
What is the problem with off milk? I know a guy who doesn't drink milk but chews it. I.e. the milk is pasturised so pathogenic bacteria is not present, the spoilage keeps working and the milk, after time, starts to go lumpy (just to note he hasn't opened the bottle to allow new bacteria to enter at this point)..........thats when he starts to chew it. Turns my stomache but it won't harm him and it is what he likes.
Dave_Notts

Isn't that how cheese is made?

10 Aug 2011

Quote by GnV
Yoghurt is pasturised, therefore all the pathogenic (harmful to humans) bacteria has been killed. However, spoilage bacteria hasn't. So if there is no mould on top of your yoghurt then no problem.
What is the problem with off milk? I know a guy who doesn't drink milk but chews it. I.e. the milk is pasturised so pathogenic bacteria is not present, the spoilage keeps working and the milk, after time, starts to go lumpy (just to note he hasn't opened the bottle to allow new bacteria to enter at this point)..........thats when he starts to chew it. Turns my stomache but it won't harm him and it is what he likes.
Dave_Notts

Isn't that how cheese is made?
It is the seperation bit at the start of the process.
Dave_Notts

10 Aug 2011

Quote by Dave__Notts
What is the problem with off milk? I know a guy who doesn't drink milk but chews it. I.e. the milk is pasturised so pathogenic bacteria is not present, the spoilage keeps working and the milk, after time, starts to go lumpy (just to note he hasn't opened the bottle to allow new bacteria to enter at this point)..........thats when he starts to chew it. Turns my stomache but it won't harm him and it is what he likes.
Dave_Notts

I actually feel quite sick now. It actually took me (Mrs Tigs) years to eat yoghurt because I used to have the image in my head that it was just "off milk" yukky. But saying that I do remember a programme on TV (documentary) that was about a guy who only ate really really rank/off/to the point of covered in mould meat and other food products. Apparently the meat/food became so "off" that it was actually good for you!!
May have to go find some pics lol

10 Aug 2011

Quote by tigersgobounce69
May have to go find some pics

Depends what pics wink

Dave_Notts