Freezing chews

[romeosangiovese]

I know some of you already do this - freeze your chews (the bully sticks, dried ears, etc) and I have also started to do it.

It makes sense because it's still meat, and there is always a risk of spoiling (particularly in hot humid climates), but I just discovered another reason!

I don't know if any of you have seem these brown beetle looking bugs crawling around in sealed unopened bags of such treats before. Sometimes there are worms, which are actually the larvae of these bugs.

These are actually flour beetles and can be present in all kinds of food that is contaminated with eggs, beetles or the larva (anywhere from production to packaging to transportation). You may not see the bug when you hold up a bag of treats, but they can be hidden in crevices (think all the holes it could crawl into in those dehydrated meats and animal parts) and their eggs could be anywhere.

It's a super common bug. And not harmful if digested (by us or by dogs apparently), but obviously, really gross to think that they are there.

Well, freezing for at least 4 days helps to kill the bugs and eggs and all other stages! All the things you can't see! So at least they are dead when you feed your dogs the treats. You can also remove all the dust and knock out any dead bugs and repackage I guess!

Just thought to share.

[Greenepony]

Good advice.
When we ordered a small lot of antlers for Olive from a family owned company out west, my training kicked in and I immediately stuck them in the freezer for a couple weeks to make sure anything was killed off. If we freeze anything coming from (and sometimes especially because they came from) a well known museum just so it's safe to be around our other objects, I'm going to freeze somewhat unknown sourced items Olive's going to put her mouth on.

[*Caro]

I order dog treats in bulk amounts for the dog club and I put dried items (ears and bones) in the deep freeze for a week before putting them in the shop. I had noticed weavils in the roo products so decided if they are getting into the roo stuff they may cross contaminate. You just have to shake everything out in case there were weavils in them.

Importantly though, make sure the items are tightly sealed and don't get ice on them when they are put in the freezer.

[susanmccain]

Great information for all to know. Thanks for sharing.

[romeosangiovese]

I was actually wondering whether there might be any problems with taking the frozen chews out of the freezer and storing them in room temperature until eaten (whenever that may be) - like condensation which would obviously cause the stuff to spoil.

Caro's point on making sure everything is tightly sealed before it goes into the freezer makes a lot of sense now! Thanks!