What is "Organic?"

I'm not going to bore you with the FDA's legal definitions, the required %'s of organic ingredients that are required to be in a processed food in order for a food to be deemed "organic" or how manufacturers' labels can mislead us with their fancy words like "all natural" and more. Instead I'm just going to give you the nitty-gritty dirt about how foods are grown and processed then let you decide for yourself if you want you and your pets to consume conventionally grown and processed foods, or organically grown and processed foods.

Traditional Highly Processed Commercial Bird Food

Even when a highly processed commercial bird food contains "certified organic" ingredients during the production process the food becomes adulterated. Once the manufacturer begins reconstituting the food, by adding vitamins and other nutrients back in that were stripped out during the intense high-heat and high-pressure used to cook and form the kibble into the finished product, using certified organic ingredients becomes nothing more than a marketing gimmick.

Here is what a typical ingredient listing may look like of a certified organic commercial bird food:

Rice, barley, sunflower seed hulled, ground soybeans, ground shelled peanuts, ground green peas, quinoa whole, buckwheat hulled, ground alfalfa, carrot powder, spinach leaf powder, vitamin A Supplement, vitamin D3 supplement, Dl-Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate, vitamin B12 supplement, Riboflavin supplement, D-Calcium Pantothenate, Niacin supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride and so on and so forth.

My point is this, once the ingredients are cooked, when heat is used in anyway, or the finely ground wet mixture is (heat or cold) pressed or extruded, and/or synthetic vitamins are added back into the food it becomes an adulterated food; it is no longer in its most pure and natural form. Any kind of deviation from its most natural form food begins to deteriorate losing its intrinsic, natural nutritional content. The more it is altered, the more nutrients in the form of digestive enzymes, naturally occurring proteins, fatty acids and vitamins are lost and must be added back in. In fact commercial bird foods usually do not even address the lack of digestive enzymes; they are completely left out of highly processed foods.

Therefore beginning with "organic" ingredients is nothing more than a marketing ploy.

If you want the real organic benefit for your bird you must find a bird food that begins with wholesome and pure ingredients and then takes the effort to make sure those ingredients are very carefully cared for during the entire production process so only a minimal amount of nutrients are lost during the production process.

That means no heat, no mechanical extrusion, no pressure regardless whether the pressure is hot or cold. Then your bird's food will not require the addition of synthetic vitamins after the production process.