UnPellet Ingredients- Why We Use The Ones We Use
How and Why We Choose Our Ingredients
Now
briefly, we want to talk about why we are not 100% organic YET. If you
will look at the companies who sell 100% organic parrot foods, you will
see that most of their products are mostly grains, as we discussed
above. We buy organic grains, as well. But some of the foods that we
think are the nutrition powerhouses are not available organic yet. Or,
for example, to get organic blueberries, we would have to buy ones with
oil and sweetener added. We don't want to do that. So we try to get the
best for you, as we do for our own birds. As more foods become
available as organically grown, we will add them to our products. If
you have questions about which of our ingredients are organic (we don't
list them because they sometimes change and our package labels are so
long already) please write to ask us.
First
we would like you to take a look at the ingredients of four other
popular natural parrot foods. These are better than most. They use
mostly organic ingredients and are not extruded, which causes loss of
nutrients due to high temps. We aren't going to use any names. We just
want you to look here to compare with ours so you will understand more
about our products:
Pellet #1: Corn, Wheat, Barley, Alfalfa Leaf Powder, Amaranth, Roasted Peanuts, Sesame Seeds, Millet, Quinoa, Dandelion, Rosemary, Chlorella, Barley Grass, Wheat Grass, Purple Dulse, Beet Root, Spinach Leaf, Rose Hips, Citrus Peels.
Pellet #2: Rice, hulled millet, barley, alfalfa leaf, sunflower seed hulled, sesame seeds unhulled, quinoa whole, buckwheat hulled, dandelion leaf powder, carrot powder, spinach leaf powder, purple dulse, kelp, rose hips powder, rose hips crushed, orange peel powder, lemon peel powder, rosemary whole leaf, cayenne ground, crushed red chili peppers, nettle leaf.
Pellet #1: Corn, Wheat, Barley, Alfalfa Leaf Powder, Amaranth, Roasted Peanuts, Sesame Seeds, Millet, Quinoa, Dandelion, Rosemary, Chlorella, Barley Grass, Wheat Grass, Purple Dulse, Beet Root, Spinach Leaf, Rose Hips, Citrus Peels.
Pellet #2: Rice, hulled millet, barley, alfalfa leaf, sunflower seed hulled, sesame seeds unhulled, quinoa whole, buckwheat hulled, dandelion leaf powder, carrot powder, spinach leaf powder, purple dulse, kelp, rose hips powder, rose hips crushed, orange peel powder, lemon peel powder, rosemary whole leaf, cayenne ground, crushed red chili peppers, nettle leaf.
Pellet #3: Hulled organic barley, Roasted organic soybeans, Organic corn, Organic pureed papaya, Organic Triticali, Shelled almonds, Organic flax seed, Organic hulled oats, Organic alfalfa, Maltoferm malt extract, Organic Pasteurized honey, Organic Quinoa, Organic Kamut, Beets, Amaranth, Organic spelt,
Apples (cored), Sesame seed, organic Fenugreek, Pureed organic Guava,
shelled Pumpkin seed, Dried Lactobacillus acidophillis fermentation
product, Dried Lactobacillus casei fermentation product, Dried
Lactobacillus plantarum fermentation product, Dried Lactobacillus
fermentum fermentation product, Dried Enterococcus faecium fermentation
product, and Dried Enterococcus faecium fermentation product, and Dried
Bifidobacterium longum fermentation product. Parsley, Fennel seed, Sweet
potatoes, Carrots, Blueberries, Raspberries, Wheat grass, Star anise
seed, Ginger, Echinacea, Red clover leaf and Cilantro.
Pellet #4: corn meal, alfalfa meal, soy protein concentrate, rice, flaxseed meal, molasses, glucose solids, oat groats, calcium carbonate, spirulina (human grade), dicalcium phosphate, oil (coconut/vegetable), lecithin, potassium chloride, Llisine, HCI, cayenne pepper, salt, dl methionine, choline chloride, magnesium oxide, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, manganous oxide, riboflavin, niacin, d-calcium pantothenate, dl-alpha tocopheryl acetate, menadione dimethylpyrimidinol busulfite, d-biotin, folic acid, copper sulfate, pyridoxine HCI, vitamin A acetate in gelatin, thiamine mononitrate, cholecalciferol (source of Vitamin D), vitamin B12 supplement, othylenediamine dihydriodide, sodium selenite, dried rhyzopus oryzae (a source of enzymatic activity), dried lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, dried bifidobacterium thermophilum fermentation product, dried bifidobacterium lonum fermentation product, dried enterococcus faecium fermentation product, dried bacillus subtilis fermentation product, calcium propionate.
As you can see from our red highlights, the main ingredients (since what is listed first is what there is most of) are grains. Two of the three have wheat and corn and two have soybeans. Some people prefer to avoid these because they are common allergens. (We use only purple corn which is much more nutritious and not a GMO product as are many yellow corns.) Grains are inexpensive. Some companies (as with #4 and many less natural pellets) add vitamins and minerals to make up for the fact that grains don't contain enough of these. But it isn't the same as getting those vitamins and minerals from their natural sources. Also, very few parrots would be eating large quantities of grain in the wild unless they are raiding a farmer's fields.
Pellet #4: corn meal, alfalfa meal, soy protein concentrate, rice, flaxseed meal, molasses, glucose solids, oat groats, calcium carbonate, spirulina (human grade), dicalcium phosphate, oil (coconut/vegetable), lecithin, potassium chloride, Llisine, HCI, cayenne pepper, salt, dl methionine, choline chloride, magnesium oxide, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, manganous oxide, riboflavin, niacin, d-calcium pantothenate, dl-alpha tocopheryl acetate, menadione dimethylpyrimidinol busulfite, d-biotin, folic acid, copper sulfate, pyridoxine HCI, vitamin A acetate in gelatin, thiamine mononitrate, cholecalciferol (source of Vitamin D), vitamin B12 supplement, othylenediamine dihydriodide, sodium selenite, dried rhyzopus oryzae (a source of enzymatic activity), dried lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, dried bifidobacterium thermophilum fermentation product, dried bifidobacterium lonum fermentation product, dried enterococcus faecium fermentation product, dried bacillus subtilis fermentation product, calcium propionate.
As you can see from our red highlights, the main ingredients (since what is listed first is what there is most of) are grains. Two of the three have wheat and corn and two have soybeans. Some people prefer to avoid these because they are common allergens. (We use only purple corn which is much more nutritious and not a GMO product as are many yellow corns.) Grains are inexpensive. Some companies (as with #4 and many less natural pellets) add vitamins and minerals to make up for the fact that grains don't contain enough of these. But it isn't the same as getting those vitamins and minerals from their natural sources. Also, very few parrots would be eating large quantities of grain in the wild unless they are raiding a farmer's fields.
Now look at the ingredients in our Unpellet mix.
It is a little harder to show what foods there are most of on our
package and web site, since we list green chunks separately on the
package label. So for the purpose of this article, we will list them in
order of predominance in a bag:
Vegetables(alfalfa, dandelion, zucchini, green beans, carrots, peas, bell peppers, hot peppers, purple corn)- 39%
Nuts (almonds, coconut) & seeds (pumpkin, hemp, flax, sesame, milk thistle)- 17%
Flowers (chamomile, chrysanthemum, calendula, hibiscus)- 16%
Fruit (goji berries, blueberries, mulberries, elderberries)- 10%
Grains (sweet brown and black rice, quinoa, buckwheat)- 8%
Beans (adzuki, mung, lentil)- 3%
Everything else (star anise, rose hips, coconut oil, red palm oil, lemon peel, orange peel, lemon grass, cinnamon, ginger, montmorillonite clay, green calcium, African Bird pepper, citric acid, rosemary oil)-7%
Vegetables(alfalfa, dandelion, zucchini, green beans, carrots, peas, bell peppers, hot peppers, purple corn)- 39%
Nuts (almonds, coconut) & seeds (pumpkin, hemp, flax, sesame, milk thistle)- 17%
Flowers (chamomile, chrysanthemum, calendula, hibiscus)- 16%
Fruit (goji berries, blueberries, mulberries, elderberries)- 10%
Grains (sweet brown and black rice, quinoa, buckwheat)- 8%
Beans (adzuki, mung, lentil)- 3%
Everything else (star anise, rose hips, coconut oil, red palm oil, lemon peel, orange peel, lemon grass, cinnamon, ginger, montmorillonite clay, green calcium, African Bird pepper, citric acid, rosemary oil)-7%
Posted by Lucy Towbin at 9/29/2010 8:56 PM 
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: parrot nutrition organic healthy natural UnPellet
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: parrot nutrition organic healthy natural UnPellet
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