This protective effect is necessary to prevent a food or diet from spoiling, becoming rancid or discolored. The use of antioxidants has occasionally been questioned by aviculturists, pet owners and retailers. This concern focuses on the question of safety and the necessity of antioxidants in processed foods. Antioxidants serve several functions in a diet.
Antioxidants also prevent the destruction of several nutrients.
They provide direct protection to a number of vitamins which are unstable to the effects of oxygen, and indirectly, they prevent nutrient destruction caused by rancid fat's highly reactive free radicals. Fat rancidity and vitamin destruction can occur very quickly without an appropriate antioxidant present. Due to the realities of the pet food distribution system and the relatively low volumes and slow use of exotic bird foods, the time interval between manufacturing a product and feeding it may be beyond the effective life of a natural antioxidant. If the product could be produced, refrigerated and consumed within a few months, natural antioxidants may be practical. However, since this time frame cannot be guaranteed, it is prudent to use the more stable chemical antioxidants for this critical function.