How Storage Conditions, Product Stability, and the Manufacturer’s Warranty Work to Determine your LabDiet® Shelf Life

The purpose of this document is to provide clarification of nutrient stability and shelf-life for products in three LabDiet® product segments: Standard products, Irradiated products and Vitamin C sensitive products.
Storage conditions and dietary characteristics affect the nutrient stability of laboratory animal diets. Such non- dietary factors include, but may not be limited to, lighting, oxygen, temperature, and moisture. Antioxidants and fat in diet formulations can also affect the overall stability. Our extensive data prove that the manufacturer’s warranty of LabDiet® products can be extended beyond the recommendations in the Guide for Care and Use of Laboratory Animals by storing products under climate-controlled conditions. Irradiation can also extend the stability of a diet by preventing growth of bacteria, yeasts, and molds. Extension of your diet usage by controlled storage varies depending on the type of diet. The recommended shelf life based on proven product stability for our LabDiet® items is provided below in a quick-reference table is with a detailed description of each category of our products.

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LabDiet® Standard Products:
The manufacturer’s warranty on product stability of LabDiet® products is 9 months from the date of manufacture. Our diets are formulated and warrantied to meet and/or safely exceed the animals’ minimum nutrient requirement for 9 months from the date of manufacturer, which accounts for any potential, normal and expected nutrient degradation over that time-period.

PicoLab® & IsoPro® Irradiated Diets
Product formulation, extensive laboratory testing and superior packaging allow us to provide assurance to customers that our full line of irradiated diets are stable and have a shelf life of twelve months from the date of manufactured:
• PicoLab® and IsoPro® products are packaged in exclusive 4-ply bags with removable pop-out durable inner pouches
• Pico-Vac® diets offer the same advantages of irradiation as the standard PicoLab® and IsoPro® diets, but are vacuum-packed in 5-pound plastic bags

Vitamin C Sensitive Standard Species Diets
Diets requiring specific levels of vitamin C (All LabDiet® primate and guinea pig products) have a guarantee of 9 months from the date of manufacture as they contain a stabilized form of vitamin C, L-ascorbyl-2- polyphosphate.
We are confident that LabDiet® products maintain their nutritional integrity and remain palatable and safe for the timeframes outlined above. However, the contents of this publication do not supersede or override the decisions, protocols, and/or procedures of the inspection agencies, laboratory animal governing bodies, or directors or managers of lab animal facilities at research institutions. Our intention is to provide information about how our feeds are formulated and how product stability can be extended based on factual data we have accumulated over time. To review data supporting the stability of our products, please visit the Product Stability section at www.labdiet.com.

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If questions or concerns arise, please do not hesitate to contact one of our IPS team members by emailing; enquiries@ipsltd.biz