TIL that most wild bird seed (in the US at least) is not vegan. Many brands use beef suet to coat seeds and make them stick together in bird feeders. I bought a bird feeder to hang in my yard and realized to late that the bird food I bought contains beef fat. Looking up other options online returns many results that contain beef suet as well. I'm looking into making my own vegan suet cakes for birds, but a word of warning for other vegans wanting to buy birdseed!
That does seem to be a US thing, I’ve looked at a few of the brands at supermarkets here in the UK and some European chains, and the only ones that contain suet are the ones marketed as suet feed or ‘feed with suet.’ They’re not all vegan though, oyster shell grit seems to feature on a few, and other ‘seafood’ type ingredients.
This is only an educated guess but the U.S. does have a massive animal waste and offal supply to get rid of though, it’s the same reason milk powder is in everything, everywhere - plentiful supply and very cheap because of subsidies (funded by the taxpayer) and because it’s a waste product. This may well be a symptom of that.
