Is it safe to store bird food in a plastic storage bin?

[elliebirdyx]

Hi all!

I have been storing my bird's food in a plastic storage bin for about 9 months now with no issue.

I recently cleaned it out because (unrelated) I spilled water and the food/hay at the bottom became musky and started to mold. To clean out the mold, I sprayed it out with rubbing/isopropyl alcohol, then re-wiped it with water and let it air out in a separate room.

I checked with an air quality monitor inside of the bin to see if the alcohol had dissipated, but the HCHO levels were higher than recommended (upwards of 0.100). I have my suspicions that it's just the plastic off-gassing and I just never realized it did this because I wasn't monitoring the air inside....

So for my question-- How do you guys recommend storing parrot food? I stored it in the plastic bin to keep away from mice who got in once, and was wondering if the plastic bin off-gassing is enough to contaminate food? Any insight is appreciated and thank you in advance!

 

[DonnaBudgie]

This is something I would not worry about for one minute. If it's for human food storage it's fine.
Don't use alcohol to clean anything their food comes in contact with. Hot soapy water and a thorough rinse is enough.

 

[elliebirdyx]

This is something I would not worry about for one minute. If it's for human food storage it's fine.
Don't use alcohol to clean anything their food comes in contact with. Hot soapy water and a thorough rinse is enough.

Thanks so much! The storage bin is actually for clothing and other items.

 

[elliebirdyx]

To clarify, the storage bin holds my bird's food which is also in bags

 

[DonnaBudgie]

The bags it came in? That's fine but clothing storage bins are not really airtight and aren't for food storage. Better still would be to store excess parrot food in the freezer and leave out a 2 to 3 week supply. I'd put the original bags of food into ziplock freezer bags and put them in the freezer.

 

[wrench13]

I use the plastic ones that have a rubber seal on the lid, which seem to work OK.