Unlike most fish, in which omega-3 fatty acids are naturally present no matter what they consume, chicken can only be infused with omega-3s through their dietary intake. We at D&D Poultry thus had a problem: how would we provide our consumers with the impressive health benefits of omega-3 fatty acids while adhering to natural feed practices? To release our high-quality line of omega-3 chicken, D&D Poultry went to local Ontario farmers on the cutting edge of nutritional food production.

A State of Flax

As mentioned above, farmers can only produce omega-3 chicken through carefully selecting their birds’ feed. However, this process comes with its own difficulties and limitations from the outset. For instance, one of the most abundant natural sources of omega-3 fatty acids is in fish and other seafood products. For more than a few reasons, farmers can’t simply feed their birds fish or fish oil. Fortunately, there is another, far less distasteful option—for both the consumer and the chicken—and that is using flaxseed in feed. Flaxseed is one of the few food sources outside of the ocean rich in omega-3 fatty acids. And, since flaxseed is a grain, it’s already similar to standard chicken feed. But feeding omega-3 chicken pure flaxseed comes with its own host of problems: flaxseeds’ high oil content and tough husk make it difficult to digest, and livestock do not find the grain palatable on its own.

The Tasty Process of Dry Extrusion

The solution to our omega-3 problem is to keep the flaxseed content, but add to the feed through the process of dry extrusion. It might sound like a technical process, but dry extrusion is actually a very simple, natural way to combine ingredients in chicken feed. Essentially, extrusion grinds the necessary ingredients into a course powder (similar to flour), the uses heat and pressure to create the final product. In our dry extrusion, the final product is feed pellets, however this process is used for dried pasta as well.

What’s Added?

Our omega-3 chicken feed, through dry extraction, is a combination of flaxseed and pulses. Pulses are dried beans that fall under the category of legumes. The pulses serve the purpose of absorbing the flaxseed oil released during the extrusion process, as well as adding starch to improve consistency and palatability.

After all this, the feed is ready to go to our farmers, who can then produce the omega-3 chicken ends up with you and your family. D&D Poultry is committed to providing healthy options, because a healthy family is a happy family.