Wow, mine has never looked like that. I never could figure out what is suppose to be removed. Yours has three layers. So @Tom or anyone, what part would be removed on this one?
Yes. That is the backing I was referring to in the past. I feed it to all my tortoises of all ages, sizes and species just like that. I don't remove anything.
I've been using them as is since 1986 and I've yet to encounter a problem. Several members here say to remove that back portion though. I don't know why they feel that way, unless they has personally seen some problem that I have yet to see. Perhaps those people could share what issues they have seen?
I don't intend to change what I've always done in this case, because it seems to work just fine for me and always has. I don't even know how you would remove that backing without crumbling the whole thing.