itty (Sherry ) wrote in message ...
Uh... Steve knows that the cans have "sell by" dates & how they work; he
works for Hills.

Cathy

Sorry to piggyback, I lost Steve's original post and I wondered if he might
know the answer to this...On pet food. Is the "sell by" date the same as the
"use by" date? I was wondering because a pet food mill here gives us tons of
cat food that's near the "sell by" date. For instance, what we got this month
is "Sell byOctober". Apparently that's too short a time frame to get the food
distributed and for stores to sell it.


Sherry,
That will depend upon the manufacturer. Most manufacturers have gone
to a "Best if used by" dating which gives the consumer a hard date to
follow. The dating on foods is more critical in dry foods and foods
with high fat content. A Light food with low fat content may very well
be fine a month or so after the "Best if Used By" dating. A puppy food
or a growth food with much higher fat levels would be more at risk for
having gone rancid.
I'm sorry I can't give you a hard fast answer, but you would really
need to ask the specific manufacturer how to handle food that is past
the "Sell By" dating.
Dating on foods has really changed a lot in the 20 years I've been
around the industry. 20 years ago it took 3 days to change a
manufacturing line from one product to another. Automation and better
equipment has radically changed that. Now it takes about 13 minutes.
Thus in the "old" days a manufacturer might produce one type of food
for several weeks and build up a large supply. Today most
manufacturers build only enough food to last a few days at best. This
has big advantages to the consumer. 20 years ago you might have
purchased food that was warehoused for several months and approaching
its expiration. Today that's difficult to do. Most foods for sale in
pet stores and veterinary clinics is extremely fresh, often only a few
days to a couple weeks old at most.