Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Yesterday I came here to purchase this food for the third time and happened to look at the reviews for the first time. I hadn't bothered to check reviews before hand because I was already familiar with buying the product locally and was happy with it. I started getting concerned after I saw another review here questioning the freshness of this food compared to the same food bought locally, which made me read on to see another review showing clear differences in the kibble between locally bought and amazon bought after their dog started getting sick. I hadn't considered the freshness issues previous and immediately regretting not having the packaging for my last bag (I dumped it into a bin and tossed the bag) to check the freshness date. Today I went out and bought a bag locally, with a "best by" date of Sept 2016. When I got home I compared the kibble: *Color difference - the locally bought kibble was darker *Dust level - the amazon bag had a lot more "food dust" in it, even though it was not the bottom of the bin yet *Smell - the locally bought kibble smelled stronger *Kibble shape - the shape looked fairly comparable, unlike the picture included with one of the other reviews. There did seem to be a *very* slight difference in that the locally bought kibble had a "skinny side" and a "plump/rounded side" while the amazon kibble was mostly "skinny" on both sides. After noticing all this, my husband and I were on the fence about whether there was an issue with the amazon bought food, and if that issues was significant enough to spend a bit more to buy it locally instead. Then we asked the dog. I gave her two piles, similarly sized, of each food when she was very hungry. I honestly expected her to eat from both piles indiscriminately, she is not a picky eater. After sniffing both piles, she clearly preferred the locally bought food even when I tried to coax her to eat the amazon food. The dog has spoken.