Remember that the major sources of damage to pet food are oxygen, heat, humidity, and light. Exposure to oxygen and heat leads to oxidation of the fat in foods. Oxidation is a chemical process that makes food taste rancid, depletes vitamins and other nutrients, and can eventually lead to serious disease. Proper storage should limit the exposure of the food to these environmental factors.

Store foods at proper temperatures. Room temperature is ideal for both canned and dry foods, but neither should be stored above 90°F. Storing canned food at temperatures below 50°F for long periods of time may lead to some changes in appearance, texture, and palatability, but should not alter the nutritional value. Once canned food is opened, it should be covered with a tight-fitting lid, refrigerated, and used within 3 days.

Avoid storing dry food in damp basements, bathrooms or laundry rooms, since moisture encourages the growth of mold. If possible, keep dry food in its original bag and place inside another clean, dry, container with a snug lid to keep out light, air, rodents, and insects.

Flint River Ranch is naturally preserved and has a shelf-life of around 6 months. Kept and stored properly, your pet's food should remain fresh and tasty.

In addition to rejecting pet-grade foods and by-products, Flint River Ranch uses no artificial colors or flavors, and no ethoxyquin, BHA or BHT, propyl gallate, propylene glycol or other chemical preservatives. Perhaps the most notable of these, ethoxyquin, has been the subject of a great deal of debate, as ethoxyquin is classified as a pesticide.

While ethoxyquin is allowed in pet-grade foods, the maximum amount of ethoxyquin allowable by law in human-grade food is five parts per million, or the equivalent of 0.0005 of 1%. If ethoxyquin levels in food exceeds that amount, the food is then deemed unfit for human consumption. Because ethoxyquin is cheaper than many other chemical preservatives, it is used in the vast majority of pet foods you see in grocery and pet supply stores.

Labeling Laws
Some manufacturers simply list ethoxyquin as the letter 'E' on their ingredients panels, something consumers often mistake for vitamin E instead. In other cases, ethoxyquin can be contained in the meats purchased by the pet food manufacturer at the time of purchase, but because that manufacturer itself doesn't add additional ethoxyquin to the product, they are not required to list ethoxyquin in the product's ingredients, based on the way the laws are written.

Labeling laws consider it acceptable to add a couple of organic chickens to a ton of pet food and say "we use organic chickens" on the label.

The word "meal" means reduced in size. The flesh is cooked, some water removed and reduced in size (ground) in order for a uniform mix of the meat, ground grains, vitamins and chelated minerals. There are no rendered by-products in Flint River Ranch foods.