How to Order

Research Diets, Inc. has established a scientific Resource Center staffed with exceptional scientists with access to over 30,000 original OpenSource Diet® formulas. Contact us and start the conversation with one of our scientists. We believe that the value of our products is in the conversations we have with our scientist customers. So you won't find any impersonal online ordering page. Our conversations often begin with discussions of animal models being used, desired phenotype and dietary requirements. Next, our scientists will search the published literature to provide you with tools to make an informed decision on diet selection based on solid science. Only then will we recommend a diet formulation.

Irradiation

Almost all of our diets can be gamma- irradiated for use in barrier facilities. Irradiated diets are “double-bagged” inside our standard double-walled corrugated carton. Some of our stock diets are available irradiated (10-20 kGy) at standard prices. Other diets are irradiated per order at an additional cost depending on quantity and lead-time. Diets are sent weekly for irradiation to respond quickly to your requests.

To Order
Specify “irradiation” on your purchase order by adding the letter "i" for single irradiation and "ii" for double irradiation to the diet number. For example D12492i. There is an additional charge for gamma irradiation. Please inquire.

Benefits of Irradiation
Causes minimal nutritional damage to the formulated diet
Does not affect the palatability of the animal diet

Packaging

Historically our diets have been packaged in large plastic bags, or double-bagged if irradiated. The diets typically comes in 2.5, 5, or 12.5 kg aliquots depending upon the order size. We do offer a variety of smaller sized bag options, which would allow for smaller amounts of diet to be stored in isolators where space is limited. It also allows for surplus diet to be stored in appropriate conditions (-20C for high-fat diets, for example) and prevents all of the diet from becoming contaminated if a seal is accidentally broken. Heat sealed and vacuum packaging are also available, though we recommend heat sealed bags over vacuum packaging, as the irradiation process can cause the vacuum seal to break. Moreover, the vacuum process can also crush soft pellets (high-fat) and allow low-fat diets with defined edges to pierce the bag during the vacuum process.

Diet Storage Guidelines

Our boxes indicate whether the diet should be stored frozen or if it can be kept in a cool, dry environment (at or below 22°C and 45% relative humidity). Many diets can be stored refrigerated or frozen, provided they are not exposed to moisture. In general, here are some guidelines:

• Frozen storage
o High-fat diets (>45 kcal% fat)
o Diets where amino acids have replaced casein
o Diets with long-chain polyunsaturated fats (i.e. particularly omega-3 fatty acids)

• Diets with added compounds should be stored in accordance with the compound manufacturer’s recommendation
• Paste diets should be refrigerated (4 – 8°C), as freezing the paste will result in a very hard block of diet that would be difficult to use
See PDF for details.

How Often to Change the Diet on the Cage? 

In your vivarium, it may be standard practice to change the diet on the cage once per week. Whenever changing diet, we recommend that old diet be removed and replaced with new diet, rather than placing new diet on top of old diet.

Weekly changing may be fine for many diets, such as those lower in fat, although there can be exceptions. For animals fed high-fat diets, we have been told anecdotally that changing the diet more frequently (i.e. twice a week) can lead to more consistent food intake and weight gain. Cordeira published work showing that frequent changing of very high-fat diet led to stable food intake and reduced measures of anxiety in mice. While we are not aware of similar data for other diet categories, we suggest that if you are seeing decreases in food intake (or lower than anticipated weight gain) in your animals over the course of the week to change the diet more often to see if food intake improves.

If you are unsure how to store or when to change your diet, please contact us at Info@researchdiets.com and we will be glad to discuss it with you.