This could be the case, or it could be a dependency between two mods. Here's a bit of info from another post:

Originally posted by Beast_of_Bodmin:

Culprit identified; Not a faulty mod, but a mod in two parts.

The Megaterrarium expansion mod comes in base and invertebrate parts and as the thumbnails are near identical I did not realise I failed to load the base mod, which includes foods such as nectar and fruit for the mod's new animals.

If nothing else I hope this helps with future troubleshooting.

Any chance you're subscribed to the Megaterrarium expansion invertebrate mod, but not the base mod? That might be the one causing the issue.

If not, then like you say, it could be a DLC dependency or another mod that relies on a second one.

If anyone is aware of any other mods which have a food dependency outside the base game, let us know here! :)