Buying Harrison’s pellets in Hong Kong & Freezing ?

[VJB]

Hi All
I am flying to Hong Kong and have seen Harrison’s for a very reasonable price in the Bird Market where they have different products and toys etc. the sell by date is 2020 and the bags are the 5lb size I am wondering whether to buy some but wanted to know whether there is a likelihood that there could be weevils in the bag or other insects even though the bags are sealed could they get in?
If I did buy a bag it would take ages to use it so my next question is should or could I freeze the pellets and if so for how long and also are the pellets then given direct from the freezer or defrosted?
Or do I keep them in the fridge?
Thank you for any advice

 

[ChristaNL]

The packaging should be bugproof, and freezing is definitely a way of keeping it fresher for longer.

I am not sure if you will get 'the real deal' - China and some other countries are masters of making fake/ forged products.
It helps if you are familiar with the "real macaw" (sorry I could not resist that one).

Always defrost anything you feed your parrots (unless it is a very hot day and you are making&serving a cooldown foraging toy).
I would scoop out some from the deepfreezer bag- let the portion defrost in the room if is going to be used almost immediately or defrost in the fridge overnight if they are meant for the next day.
Serve at roomtemperature.

 

[VJB]

Hi thank you so much for helping me I will not buy in China you are quite right I hadn’t thought about whether it may be real or fake. I will also take out what I need as you suggest the night before but how long do you think a large bag could realistically be kept in the freezer for?

 

[SailBoat]

Freezer burn is near the same with all products and depends heavily on packaging! We buy large and breakdown into smaller packages, commonly double bagged. The size packaging we use is about the needs of a single week as the constant opening and closing of the packaging causes frost to develop within the package.
We buy enough to support needs for up to six months and as little as three months. NOTE: Always date the package to assure that they are properly rotated. Freezing beyond a year is problematic as the normal frost free cycles of modern freezers can introduce frost and breakdown the product.