Is this dog food spoiled?!

[Snaplittledragon]

It’s just arrived, is it just me or do the top and bottom of the cans appear puffed out and blown?!
I’m worried the food inside might be spoiled?
I’m fairly sure for people cans with the tops and bottoms puffed aren’t meant to be eaten..?

Not sure the pictures have come through..

I wouldn't risk it. You are quite right tins should have concave ends.

I have sent an email to both natures menu and VioVet (where I bought it) asking if it is safe to eat but I think I probably will approach VioVet for a refund instead.

Thats a Blown can not safe to eat, very rare to see this, looks like its either not been properly cooked or not sealed, the on line machines look for this so I am surprised never seen one in the flesh

Frustrating!
All six cans arrived like this!
I have another six of a different flavour arriving today 🤦🏻‍♀️
I haven’t had a response yet from either the seller or the manufacturer but I’m going to request a refund.

Had a response back from manufacturer.
They couldn’t have been more helpful and are collecting the blown tins.
Haven’t heard back from the company I bought them from yet and hoping the second order I have from them arriving today doesn’t arrive the same way! 🤞🏻

Blown tins are a botulism risk.

Yes, I have been googling and saw about botulism.
They have offered to replace with 6 non blown tins when they collect and send me a copy of the report after they’ve tested the suspect cans.
I haven’t fed any fortunately but how awful if something like that is actually found.

Absolutely fuming!!
🤬🤬🤬
So, the six cans of a different flavour were delivered today.
They aren’t blown like the last lot but they are all bar one sporting massive fucking dents!

I am absolutely raging.
It isn’t cheap food, the tins are almost £3 each!
I stupidly thought id try VioVet as they were cheaper than natures menu.
They haven’t bothered to get in touch with me after I emailed them about the blown cans and now I have to try and get a refund for these cans as I don’t feel comfortable feeding from such badly dented tins.

Whilst natures Menu have been great and I couldn’t fault them at all for their customer service this is the last time I buy from VioVet.

You have my sympathy.

My dog is on a food for her sensitive stomach that you can only buy online, I can get it from the vet but it's nearly £4 a can from them, so buy it from Pets at Home where it's a great deal cheaper.

I buy it in large quantity to save the bother of keep having to order it and I can't tell you how many times it's arrived with many of the tins so badly squashed or dented that I won't use them.

More often than not it's clearly because the courier has placed the carton on its side so all the tins have fallen in on one another, this despite the large arrows on the carton indicating the way it should be placed and the word fragile written all over it.

As far as I can tell, from reading reviews, this is a problem with a great many deliveries from dog food companies.

At least with Pets at Home I can take it back to my nearest shop knowing that there will be no difficulty with getting a replacement or refund.

Even so it's very frustrating.

It's a while since my dogs had canned food but I would never feed them from a dented or blown can. Botulism is a very real risk and you don't want to be dealing with that.

I agree, the blown cans were collected today and I have 6 non blown, non dented replacement cans from the manufacturer.

The dented ones, I have thrown in the bin.
Fuming.
Not only for money’s sake; it is a ridiculously expensive food!
But I also feel enraged that boar have basically been killed for nothing.
Just to be thrown in the bin.
Same for the veg used.
Just such a bloody waste all because someone, somewhere, couldn’t be bothered to handle the cans carefully.

I have asked VioVet for a refund but haven’t heard back yet.
I may phone them on Monday.

As you can see, the dents are not insignificant!

How does having a dent in the tin affect the food? Genuine question. Not trying to be goofy

*goady

andannabegins
Clostridium botulinum is an anaerobic, spore forming bacteria.
It can survive extreme heat processes as the spore protects it.
You would normally process canned /jarred/pouched ambient food products to a minimum F0 of 3 (one F0 is 121C for 1 second, core temperature for 1 second, or equivalent) to destroy C botulinum spores.
Underprocessed food can result in replication od the bacteria from the spores, a side effect of which is release of a neurotoxin, which is extremely dangerous. It can result in death by suffocation, due to nerve paralysis.
The blown cans shown by the OP could be dud to underprocessing, in which case, Botulism is a real possibility, or a seal failure, in which case you probably have spoilage bacteria put competing pathogens,which is unlikely to be deadly, but still not good.
The issue with dented cans is that you can crack the lacquer inside the can, which stops the contents reacting with the metal in the can. This can rest in metals leaching into the contents, or, if you have actually created a microscopic hole as a result of the dent, you have potential growth of spoilage organisms, or worst case scenario growth of heat stable pathogens that require oxygen.

Hmmm, full of typos, but hopefully makes sense!

I've had this with expensive wet food from time to time. I am dubious about the "blown" ones but usually open them and sniff them anyway and if they smell OK, I still use them. I don't care about dented ones as long as the actual tins aren't punctured. You can really tell when they are "off". Unfortunately, the trays of tins seem to get chucked around a lot in transit. It has usually only been 1 or 2 in a big order so I can't be bothered to return them.

You can really tell when they are "off"
Not with botulism, that has no taste or smell according to reading I’ve been doing.

121 fo 1 second I assumed it would need much longer?

Dented cans, can leak allowing air in and spoiling the contents it can also damage the protective layer on the can so it can rust internally. I wont use them either.
Lately I have been paying 20p a packet more for my food from the local pet shop

What I don't understand is why when I get mine delivered, so many cans are damaged but the ones my vet sell never have any dents.

Clearly it is possible to transport these can without damaging them so why can't we all have undamaged cans.

Obviously, the deliveries to vets are done with a great deal more care. There's no need for them to be chucked around during transit.

@pigsDOfly

What I don't understand is why when I get mine delivered, so many cans are damaged but the ones my vet sell never have any dents.

Clearly it is possible to transport these can without damaging them so why can't we all have undamaged cans.

Obviously, the deliveries to vets are done with a great deal more care. There's no need for them to be chucked around during transit.

Some online retailers simply package them in stronger boxes with padding so no matter how much they are thrown about they survive.

Unfortunately it's trial and error to find those that do and those that don't.

Wow thanks. Every day is a school day!

I've given up buying dog food tins online, so many dents. Now use supermarket, farm supply shop or my local pet shop who are brilliant and offer surreptitious discounts for large quantities. The last straw was a delivery lady who announced the boxes were too heavy and dropped them in the middle of the drive.

At £3 a tin might it be cheaper to cook your own dog food? My dog who has a sensitive stomach eats cooked veg with cooked meat mince (lean beef lamb or pork mince with potatoes, green veg and carrots).

I have thought about doing my own, even put a thread up about it!
But I’ve come to the conclusion I’m just too scared to do something wrong and leave her malnourished