Some manufacturers argue that the heat is needed to pasteurize the food and make it more digestible. Parrots have evolved over millions of years eating raw materials and their digestive systems have developed to metabolize raw food. The extrusion and steamed pelleting processes destroy many, if not most of the natural nutrients, leaving the pellet that is produced as simply a vessel to carry the synthetic nutrients to your bird. Because of the inherent risk of molds and mycotoxins in corn we do use roasted corn in this product. We feel that the risk outweighs the benefit with this one ingredient.
Aflatoxins are the toxic byproducts of mold growth on certain agricultural commodities.
We monitor the aflatoxin levels in this food very closely. The FDA has set industry standards for aflatoxins in feeds fed to meat producing animals. Since there are no standards specifically set for pets at this time we use these standards for guidelines. To view these standards click here and go to section 683.100. The latest analysis of Breeder's Blend showed that the aflatoxins were below detectable levels.