31st Oct 2011
Do Onesta Organics products meet or exceed AAFCO standards? You asked the question; here’s our answer:
No, our products don’t “meet or exceed AAFCO standards.”
Let me explain. We don’t believe that a mineral/vitamin mix, which—depending on the supplier—isn’t shelf stable for more than 3 or 6 months,* can ever substitute for real, whole food-based nutrients.
Most of the supplements used in typical mineral/vitamin premixes are synthetic, isolated, and/or genetically engineered. Although some regard them as ‘insurance for health,’ such isolated nutrients can never undo the damage done by poor food choices. Just consider how sick today’s pet populations are despite the fact that most receive ‘balanced’ or ‘complete’ foods that meet or exceed AAFCO-recommended nutrient levels. There are increasing numbers of disease epidemics in pets. At the same time, pets don’t seem to live longer, healthier lives.
Although it would be easy—certainly profitable, and perhaps even cost-effective—to include a premix of vitamins and minerals among our food ingredients to achieve AAFCO ‘required’ nutrient levels for ‘whole or balanced meals,’ this isn’t what we’re about, here at Onesta Organics.
We recommend supplementing your pet’s whole food diet which could certainly include our products, with high quality supplements. This way, you can be sure of the quality and effectiveness of the nutrients in both the food ingredients and nutritional supplements your pet receives.
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* Shelf life starts from the manufacture of the premix and not the time the product is added to the pet food.
