The PetSmart store at 401 Kenilworth Drive, Petaluma, CA 94954 presents their canned and bagged pet food in their large windows, in direct sunlight reports Sandy, a valued member of the PoC community. This is sunny California. Is this sensible? Do other PetSmart stores do this? And is this against company policy?
Click on the images to see larger versions if you wish.
You know how hot it can get behind large picture windows. You can get a greenhouse effect near the window. Is it fair to argue that the temperature of the storage conditions might become too high for safety? We know that dry and canned foods should be stored in cool, dry conditions for maximum lifespan. Storing canned foods in the window may result in the storage temperature reaching very high levels in warm weather.
This may damage the product. One website I visited states that canned foods stored above 70 degrees Fahrenheit for long periods can lose nutrients. The quality of the food may impaired. If storage temperatures reach as high as 100 ºF the safety of the foods becomes questionable. The food may react with the inside of the can. The can may be damaged.
I am speculating a lot. However on a common sense basis, cat and dog food should be stored under optimum conditions. Perhaps the stores are efficiently air conditioned. But even then I’d expect the area immediately behind a large window to be liable to become very hot in warm weather.
I think this is an interesting and useful observation by a sensible cat lover which may flag up the need to take action. What do you think?
When I first noticed this, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, and thought maybe they were just “pictures” of food. But on closer inspection, I saw that they were real.
After going to their website, I saw the same picture of the windows with food on display, like the ones I took.
I’ll be watching to see if they make any changes. I think that Susan Thixton of TruthAboutPetFood will be contacting them about this, so stay tuned.
In the meantime, I’d avoid buying any pet food that may have been stored in sunny windows, then rotated to shelves. You may be risking your pet’s health and life!
I don’t trust large corporations to protect my pet. Do you?