cat punctured the food bag. is it okay to store the food in a plastic container?

I read somewhere that food directly poured into a plastic container might overtime take on the container's smell so it should be kept inside the bag and that bag should then be placed inside the plastic container. However my catfood bags are big and i don't have big enough plastic container so i poured the food in a few plastic containers. Do you think it'll be fine?

i washed the plastic containers with dish soap and dried with paper towel before putting dry food in. 

It is not just the smell, certain plastics emit fumes that can be harmful to the cats, just as plastic bottles can emit fumes that are harmful to us.  Using plastic dishes for cat food and water, or plastic bins to store the food in if it isn't already in its bag can sometimes cause feline acne, where they get little black specks on their chin, or worse, oozing sores.  I would suggest purchasing a container that is big enough to hold your bags.  They are not that expensive, I have some 18 gallon ones with lids that only cost about $5.00 each.  You can just tape over the tooth marks on the bag, or you could have, if you had not thrown the bag away.  Alternatively, you can shop for a plastic container that IS safe.  Here is a link that explains how to differentiate between plastics.

http://www.nrdc.org/living/chemical...3rpzv95EcTRNsSNBxeDoqPDfw9V3MlYQDPRoCE5Hw_wcB

You can get something like this: http://www.containerstore.com/s/kitchen/food-storage/pet/pet-food-containers/123d?productId=10006457 or this http://www.containerstore.com/s/kit...71&green=B8545FBA-B661-556E-9071-5386E5DDA10A With the first container, you can put the whole bag of food inside.

I store dry food in a plastic container, and have had no issues. I just wash it out whenever it's empty. My cat (the one who eats through bags) has managed to open it and climb in, though!

evolily said:

I store dry food in a plastic container, and have had no issues. I just wash it out whenever it's empty. My cat (the one who eats through bags) has managed to open it and climb in, though!

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Me too. My one cat will chew through the food bags. It's a food grade container, so I don't think there would be any issues.

Yep, same here. I've seen the container I use used for cereal. If i was putting it in a garbage can I'd probably keep it in the bag (more a concern about lead than "chemicals") but a food grade container, I just don't see the harm.

I'm not sure where I read it, but I know I read somewhere that you shouldn't keep your pet food in plastic storage containers because, over time, the fat and oils in the food will leach into the plastic and become rancid.  I'm not sure if that is true of high density polyethylene (the hard plastic safe for food storage - like what your crisper drawer is made of) or not? But the plastic most general storage bins are made of is 'soft' plastic and so are the plastic storage containers like Tupperware - that is why they stain easily - they are porous.

I went to the local Tractor Supply store and purchased a 10 gallon galvanized steel trash can with a lid. It easily holds a 20 pound bag of dry food and keeps it fresh until it's gone.I just keep it in the corner of the pantry and have a stainless steel scoop in it. The cats can't get into it and it is safe for food storage. I always kept the horse feed in galvanized steel drums to keep the raccoons and mice out of it. 

After I dump the bag into the container, I always cut the bar code and lot# info off and adhere it to my refrigerator door til it's gone - in case there is a recall or something!

I keep their food in a tin container inside a clean supermarket plastic bag which gets changed with every new bag of food. I've had no problems.