- Location
- St.Louis
As hobbyist we have a variety of food options. Those options include stable at room temperature products (pellets, flakes, and freeze dried), refrigerated products, frozen products, fresh products, and live products. There are risks and benefits to each category. Some use preservatives to extend the life of the food. Preservatives will be a topic for a future thread. But I am talking about once you get it home. Food spoilage is related to bacterial invasion and autolysis. When bacteria begin to digest nutrients, particularly anaerobic bacteria, a foul odor is produced. Do fish, inverts, and corals care? Is there spoilage in the ocean? Most carnivores/omnivores are also scavengers and food never goes to waste. It is an eat or be eaten world with cannibalism a common theme. Coprophagia or eating feces is also very common in the animal kingdom. For those of us with dogs, you know what I mean. Digestion for any animal is not 100% efficient. Under the best of circumstances, it is about 80% efficient which means that there remains at least 20% of the usable nutrient value left which is food to some. This is not the same as overfeeding, leaving undigested food to overwhelm your waste disposal systems. Does spoilage imply pathogenic bacteria or non-pathogenic bacteria just doing their thing without risk? Most products have an expiration date or best used by date. Have you ever fed an expired food? I have and nothing bad happened. Love to hear from the experienced hobbyist about their food safety practices. I feed refrigerated, frozen, fresh, and live foods but was banished from the kitchen refrigerator. How about you?
Doc
Doc
