Wow…did this experiment take a bad turn. Maggots, I’m talking thousands. The results of the pet food experiment (prior to maggot mania).
It would be my recommendation to pet food consumers, don’t try this experiment at home. Ugh, did this turn bad. The goal was to see how long pet food meats would remain looking fresh as compared to human grade meat. I believe we achieved that goal but the experiment ended much sooner than I had hoped due to maggot infestation.
Here’s how things played out…(general information, more details below)…
11/16 – Day 1. Pet foods were purchased, documented, opened one by one and contents dumped into a stainless steel colander for rinsing (the goal was to rinse off all the ‘goo’ and pick out just pieces of meat from the sample). The only pet food that was not rinsed was Freshpet – no need, it was not a moist food – meat chunks just removed from the package. The human grade meat was also not rinsed – no need.
11/17 – Day 2. No significant difference – no pictures taken.
11/18 – Day 3. Visible significant difference in human meat, photo below. No significant difference in any pet food, photo’s below.
11/19 – Day 4. Horrible odor from human meat, clearly spoiled. Had to be discarded. No odor from any pet food. One meat ‘chunk’ of Pedigree had mold, discarded it. Last day pictures were taken.
11/20 – Day 5. Did not inspect any of the samples.
11/21 – Day 6. Each of the sample containers were found to be infested with gnats and gnat maggots (tiny maggots). Even though the containers were covered, they were (obviously) not air tight (gnat proof). All samples and containers were discarded. No pictures taken (it was disgusting).
Also on day 6, when all of the samples and containers were bundled up and I opened the lid to the garbage can…thousands of full size maggots (not the tiny gnat maggots) were almost covering the contents in the garbage can, the garbage can too is stored in my garage. From Day 1 of this experiment, the rest of each pet food not used as a sample (directly from the package) was in that garbage can (lesson learned, only do this experiment if the garbage goes out the same day as when you open the cans!). We have never, ever had maggots in our garbage can. Never. And honestly there was so many maggots they covered the contents in the can. It was horrible!!!
I can’t say with certainty that the maggots came from the pet food, I wasn’t going to dig around in them to see if I could discover where they originated. But again, for years of cooking pet food, cooking bones for broth and discarding the remains in the same exact garbage can in the same garage…never have we had maggots in the garbage can.
Now for the pictures…(Please note, you’ll notice a significant lighting difference in the pictures – especially pictures of pet food meat in the colander and again on Day 4. The light reflected off the colander and altered the look, and on Day 4 it was cloudy here – no natural light – and the pictures looked very different than the day before).
A brownish scum began to show on the meat on day 3. It doubled in coverage over the meat by day 4. Also, by day 4 the meat spelled so badly (you could smell it in the house when it was stored in the garage) it had to be discarded.
Again, the meat looked very pink in the colander – it wasn’t. This was just a reflection. This pet food didn’t change much in color and did not smell. By day 4 you can see the moisture building up on it, which I assume had something to do with spoilage.
The Fancy Feast cat food did not change much. By day 4 it darkened just a little, but looked very similar to the original product. As reminder, this was one of the foods that the meat felt stiff, cardboard-ish when taken out of the container. The pet food never had a bad smell.
The Nutro Cat food did not change – it looked almost the same on day 4 as it did after rinsing. No smell.
As with the other foods, the image of the Wellness cat food in the colander is not accurately displaying the color of the food. Reflection from the colander makes the food look very pink, it was not. This pet food darkened slightly on day 4 (it looks darker in the picture – this was taken on a cloudy day and I had no natural light). And this was the only pet food that had a slight odor at day 4 – but, it smelled just like pet food.
Same issue with the image from the colander with this Beneful Dog Food, it was not that pink looking. By day 4, the meat looked almost identical to how it looked on the first day. Slight moisture build up by day 4, no odor.
This pet food was not rinsed (no image in the colander). There was only a slight change in this meat on day 4, you can see small brown spots beginning to appear (the very dark spots I assume are spices used in the pet food). These brown spots looked similar to the brown spots on the human grade chicken, but they were much less on the pet food and the pet food meat had no odor on day 4.
The Natural Balance dog food did not change much through the experiment. By day 4 it has a few darker sections – but not like the human grade meat or what was beginning to show in the Freshpet. On day 4 the pet food had no odor.
The Pedigree dog food didn’t change much at all, except for the one piece (day 4 image right) that grew fuzzy mold. These pieces of dog food were like little sponges and it was difficult to dry them properly on day 1. I assume this mold was because of moisture in the chunk. No odor from this pet food day 4.
This experiment didn’t turn out as I had planned – the gnats ruined everything. I’m confident had the gnats not invaded the pet food sample containers, this would have continued on for quite some time. I doubt I’ll be brave enough to take this on again. In hind sight, I should have used air tight containers. And my bad as well for not being a better photographer. I don’t think the pictures adequately show you the very little changes that I saw in the pet foods, and actually I don’t think they show the brownish scum that was growing on the human grade chicken adequately enough. I wouldn’t dare wish to share the smell of the human grade meat with you.
But what the experiment did for me, was show how quickly meat ingredients can be devastated by bugs. In two days my pet food samples went from no bugs to infested with gnats and their maggots (from day 4, last day pictures were taken to day 6 when everything was discarded). If things got this bad, in my air-conditioned garage (remember, I live in Florida), imagine how bad pet food meats could become in a un-air conditioned pet food manufacturing plant? Or in an un-air conditioned truck? Pet food ingredients are not required by law to be transported under refrigeration or warehoused under refrigeration. After just witnessing the gnats, little and large maggots I saw (in the garbage can and in the containers), it is chilling to think of the condition of some pet grade meats in some pet food facilities.
And worse yet, we don’t know the conditions at any of the pet food plants. Do they keep ingredients properly refrigerated? Do they properly clean the equipment? They don’t tell us, and no inspection report is required to be provided to the consumer.
For food to be clean of bug and maggot infestation, the ingredients and the manufacturing facility has to be pristine. I can’t even imagine how bad it could be in some facilities.
Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,
Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
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Debi Cohen
November 23, 2015 at 5:29 pm
Susan, this was so cool of an experiment, why bugs/maggots had to get into the act is sad, but the after pictures look so much like the textured soy product that I used to purchase when I thought it was good for us, of course we all know how this product is unidentifiable in any product but does take on the flavors of the ingredients that is added to, imo, these are soy based foods, what say you?
Susan Thixton
November 23, 2015 at 5:34 pm
I think all of the meats (not our human grade meat) were fabricated. It was clear with the Pedigree – those large chunks were like little meatloafs, clearly a fabricated meat chunk. But the others it wasn’t so plain to see. But none looked like real meat – and several had a very strange feel to them. Yes – I agree – whether soy based or pea protein based – I believe all of the meat chunks were fabricated pieces.
Susan
November 24, 2015 at 5:31 pm
I think it’s not meat but sieten…. Which is all wheat gluten snd probably shouldn’t be given to pets in the first place
Marsha
November 23, 2015 at 5:36 pm
Thank you Susan for doing the experiments. I do not buy any wet food for my dogs but I do know others do. I cook for my dogs. Than way I know what is in their food. Especially since one of my dogs has congestive heart failure and is not allowed any salt. It has been very hard to find dry food for him without salt.
T Allen
November 23, 2015 at 8:07 pm
Thank you for doing this Susan, sorry it turned out so bad! I learned several things from this. First all the “meat” was fabricated, second that they all are loaded with preservatives and third that very likely one or more products was infested either internally or externally with some kind of fly eggs or maggots since you’ve never had a problem with them before. It would me interesting to try it again now that it’s cold enough where I am to not have a fly issue. Maybe……
Laurie Matson
November 23, 2015 at 8:50 pm
What are the odds the pet foods contained maggot eggs that hatched? Did the human meat sample get maggots too?
Susan Thixton
November 23, 2015 at 9:02 pm
The human food meat was discarded on day 4 – before the gnats and maggots happened. So…no, it didn’t. But to be fair, the gnats and maggots happened somewhere between day 4 (after I took pictures) and day 6 – again, after the human grade meat had to be tossed (the smell was honestly horrible).
Hal
November 24, 2015 at 3:31 am
What I’m not clear on is whether you think the pet food was already infested with flea or fly eggs that resulted in the maggots. About a year ago, I saw one maggot in my kitchen and couldn’t figure out where it came from. I keep the cat’s food plate in a room of my apartment furthest from the kitchen.
Are you sure that’s a picture of a Fancy Feast canned food above? I haven’t fed my cat Fancy Feast in a very long time, but I don’t remember Fancy Feast looking like that. That photo looks more like Weruva’s Paw Lickin’ Chicken. Could that be one of their FF Elegant Medley foods?
Susan Thixton
November 24, 2015 at 8:34 am
I really don’t know if they came with maggots or if they became infested in my garage. I live in Florida – and last week it was 80 degrees each day. So certainly bugs are out and about here. But, never have we had maggots in the garbage can. We’ve had gnats, but never gnat maggots. I have another unopened container of one of the foods – I’m considering putting it into an air tight container and seeing what happens. Will keep everyone posted.
And yes – that was a Fancy Feast brand. Here is the link to the original post with all of the documentation of foods used: https://truthaboutpetfood.com/when-will-they-spoil-a-pet-food-experiment/
vicki
November 24, 2015 at 6:53 pm
Hi Susan, Thanks for doing a very interesting experiment.
I just wanted to add two things to above discussion;
1. I’m sure your at a disadvantage being in a humid, semi tropical climate ( although I envy you – here in Freezing MI 🙂
However, even with the air conditioning, it’s very possible that the gnats got into the garage, from either cracks under the doors/windows or even from a drain, if you have one in the garage. In a climate controlled, or cold setting, perhaps this wouldn’t have been an issue for you?
2.I happen to know for certain that many products carried in grocery and other stores do indeed have various larvae enclosed in them! I’ve been battling “closet moths” for months due to purchasing grain, and spices both with bugs already in them. I’ve also had the same/similar experience with purchased pet treats, and years ago with bird seed/treats and etc.
I consistently put any purchased grains in a freezer we have in the garage before putting them in the house, because this problem in so prevalent here in the Detroit Metro area. I don’t know if it’s related to where we are, or if others also have had this experience?
Thanks again for all you do for us Pet Parents! 🙂
Vicki – In Detroit MI.
Laurie Matson
November 24, 2015 at 5:09 am
Just was wondering if the pet food left the manufacturing plants with maggot eggs already on them!!
Johanna
November 24, 2015 at 10:00 am
All I can say is, yuck! Thanks, Susan, for undergoing this experiment and sharing it with all of us. I’m horrified, though not surprised, at the lack of spoilage from the processed pet foods, which just goes to show how loaded these foods are with dangerous chemical preservatives. It also makes me wonder how much of what they’re trying to pass off as “meat” is actually TVP (texturized vegetable protein) or soy-based “meat”. I’m a vegetarian and agree with Debi, it looks suspiciously like imitation meat product to me. I know you said it’s not likely you’d be willing to do it, but I’d love to see somebody attempt this experiment in bug-proof containers. I’m thinking completely sealed, air-tight wouldn’t give you an accurate result to see if there are indeed fly eggs in the food, as the closed environment would lead to quicker spoilage/mold and the anaerobic environment may kill the (alleged) eggs before they hatch. Perhaps a coffee filter secured with a rubber band? Anybody willing to give this a go? 🙂
Susan Thixton
November 24, 2015 at 10:11 am
Coffee filter sounds like it might work. One of the pet foods I used was buy one get one (I didn’t really want the extra, but now it might come in handy). I’m thinking I will try it again with just the one food to try to find a bug free way to do this. Haven’t got my nerve up yet – waiting till after Thanksgiving might be a better plan 🙂
Johanna
November 24, 2015 at 10:30 am
Good idea 😉 I just had another passing thought- since you said the rest of the unused pet food was in the garbage with the maggots, perhaps the “gravy” might be the part containing the (alleged) fly eggs? Maybe an experiment with the foods “straight from the can” would give more accurate read as to whether or not there really are eggs in the food? Anyway, just a thought!
Susan Thixton
November 24, 2015 at 10:47 am
I wondered that too. Tiny maggots were in the food sample containers (those that were rinsed). And the huge maggots were in the garbage can. I did think if I do it again with this one sample left, I’m not going to rinse anything. But I’m still waiting till after Thanksgiving…just in case.
Cheryl Mallon-Bond
November 24, 2015 at 12:17 pm
Thanks Susan for conducting this experiment. It is so obvious that the pet “feed” was fabricated “meat ”
As for what goes on at these pet food manufacturing plants, I really think an under-cover operation needs to insure, at ALL the major manufacturer’s. It is the only way to truly know how all meat & other ingredients are being handled. This needs to be blown open, just like what was done with the tobacco industry.
Kelsey Ornelas
June 2, 2022 at 10:14 am
Glad to see this, I thought I was crazy last night when I looked down at the tray cat food and water sits on and saw worms! What I noticed first was any food that had gotten wet (I have a cat that kicks water out of bowel) normally would turn to tan mush with water on it (in fact usually so much wetness it’s hard to carry outside trying not to spill!) well what caught my attention last night was the mush was not tan and wet it was black and dried out and looked like it contained my hair! We’re talking timeline of a day in a half at most it took to go from dry cat food into tan mush then progress to black and dried out! Upon closer inspection I noticed maggots but small skinny ones and gnat fruit flies. So I began clearing everything to clean the water bowel is plastic and concave on under rim and I clean there first in case a scorpion might be hiding and when I flipped it over gnats flew out like by the hundreds if not thousands it looked like the movie Green Mile! Needless to say but it’s all cleaned up but I started wondering if it came from the food itself which was bought the day before and immediately transferred from bag to sealed container as usual (there were not and have never been bugs in container). It was meow mix I will have to look at receipt to see what specific type because my husband picked it up. After reading comments I decided to start experiment; clean baby food jar with a small piece of cloth like paper towels damp 1/4 way full with dry cat food couple of drops of water on top and then shaken, coffee filter doubled and secured with two rubber bands and then tape around edge (not taking any risks with these things on the loose and also not letting unknown into experiments) hopefully I did not get to cautious and leave it unable to get air we’ll see and hope it didn’t come out of cat food! But seriously I’m shocked at the black and dried out look that happened so quickly? Do gnats or maggots have that effect?
Hilary Olson
November 24, 2015 at 1:28 pm
Thank you For the results of what must have been a very smelly test. I did the airtight container with Fancy Feast by mistake. I left it out of the fridge instead of in the fridge My Nose led me to it 2 days later and the lid was pushed up and detached on one side. I am afraid I just pitched it container and all.
Thank You also for Sooty’s In Memoriam.
Monica
November 25, 2015 at 2:03 am
That horrible maggot infestation you had happened once, and only once a few years ago, in our outside garbage can within 2-5 days (not sure now) after putting in cantaloupe rinds wrapped in one plastic bag. That was the only food in there as anything else I always dispose of in the garbage disposal. Maggots are just fly larvae and once a fly lays their eggs, it only takes 24 hours in the right environment to hatch…yes, I looked it up. So that’s probably what happened to you too. From then on I always double bagged my garbage no matter what’s in there!
Lisa
November 25, 2015 at 10:26 am
Wow Susan, thank you for doing this. I can’t imagine such a disgusting sight.
I don’t know about maggots, however, I can tell you that I work out of various Petco stores and I often see moths flying around, where they are coming from – who knows.
Thanks again for all you do and happy Thanksgiving.
Sherrie Ashenbremer
November 30, 2015 at 7:21 pm
Susan I know this question has nothing to do with this feed, but I have been researching all over to find information on a dog food, (it’s a new dog food) call Allprovide. It is recommended by Judy Morgan, DVM who I trust and is very knowledgeable about dog foods. I can’t find any information on Allprovide. I am feeding Orijen right now, just ordered Evermore (which is on your list) and I will be mixing it with my Orijen. I have five dogs, just can’t afford to go all raw. I have heard that Allprovide is cheaper. But is it a good quality? IF you know anything could you tell us. Also, I always purchase your Food List, when does the new one come out. Thank you
Bonnie
December 9, 2021 at 12:45 pm
I did the experiment with the can cat food I had in my home at room temperature. I placed each can in their own ziplock bag – allowed a slight opening to air. On the latter days I closed the ziplocks and also tied about four plastic food store bags around the cans to reduce the odor. The cans were kept in the kitchen which can get very warm due to cooking. On day six I did not see any maggots. Foods tested were:
1. Wellness grain free chicken- pate
2. Blue Buffalo Wilderness grain free chicken- pate
3. Fancy Feast Gourmet Naturals – pate, natural turkey recipe
4. Purina Pro Plan – Sensitive Skin and Stomach, duck entree