Hey all,
I get that I'm probably being too literal here and causing myself undue stress, but as far as I can tell, the public facing definition of "Natural" from AAFCO regarding feed ingredients excludes microbial ingredients, such as probiotic bacterial or fungal cells (and I suppose larger fungus forms such as mushrooms / mushroom powders).
The current definition on aafco.org includes:
“A feed or feed ingredient derived solely from plant, animal, or mined sources…”
Technically, a bacterial or fungal cell, taxonomically, does not fall under plant, animal, and certainly not as a "mined source".
I've had people we supply to ask for signed statements regarding our ingredients "natural" status specific to AAFCO's definition, and I haven't been able to attest to anything other than by technicality, these ingredients fall outside the scope of AAFCO's definition.
I've contacted AAFCO on this asking for clarification and/or precedent for this situation, but I was curious:
a. If any of you have dealt with this specifically before
b. If anyone had thoughts/comments on this perceived technical failing of AAFCO's definition.
Thanks!