How long do homemade pet treats last?
It’s best to seal these Dog Treats in an airtight container and store in the fridge. They will stay good in the fridge for up to 2 months, or you can freeze them for up to 8 months!
What is a natural preservative for dog treats?
Vitamin E, commonly referred to as mixed tocopherols, vitamin C, known as ascorbic acid, and plant extracts such as rosemary are all used to prevent rancidity in dog treats.
Ingredient Stability and Individual Shelf Life
If you consider all the different dog treat ingredients that can help make a homemade treat doggone delicious, many are shelf life limited. Some have brief safe consumption lives at room temperature and limited refrigerator lives, even if they’ve been heated or cooked. Think of tasty options like fish, meat, stock, purred fruits, pureed vegetables, dairy, eggs, and other popular homemade dog treat ingredients. Other ingredients lose their stability as soon as their containers are unsealed, and the contents of packets, cans, or jars are exposed to ambient air. Even for ingredients with long stable shelf (or refrigerator) lives, once you mix and bake them into a treat, all bets are off.
Soft fish and meat treats are the most vulnerable in our experience, but all homemade treats benefit from careful food handling and storage. Moist protein-rich foods are great breeding grounds for bacteria. Soft treats of all varieties are prime for growing mould, with plenty of moisture and organic material to act as food. The baking process initially kills most bacteria and mould spores (excluding certain heat-resistant exceptions), but these are easily picked up after baking during handling, surface contact, and/or ambient air.
We don’t use any special preservatives when we make our dog treats, although these can be bought for treat making. Some treat ingredients have natural preservative properties, but these generally aren’t used in sufficient quantities to make a substantial difference to shelf life and/or their natural preservative properties may be altered by the cooking/baking process.
For most homemade dog treats, using quality ingredients, hygienic food handling, moisture control, and storage conditions are the primary lines of defence against spoilage. Let’s dig a little deeper into ways to help increase the edible life of homemade dog treats.
How to make 1000s per month selling dog treats
This FAQ post is all about shelf life and storage options for homemade baked biscuit and cookie dog treats. We’re wrapping up the dog treat mini-series (and the treats) with a look at homemade dog treat shelf life, food safety, and storage. We’ve covered general storage for other types of treats their respective FAQ posts, but baked homemade dog treat shelf life and storage concerns are very common for home bakers, so we’re a doing more comprehensive overview. Let’s dig into the factors affecting shelf life and dog treat storage options.