An organism that obtains nutrients through the ingestion of solid organic matter. This class of organism includes all animals from the simplest, single-celled animal (for example, the protozoa) to the higher life forms. Organisms have some type of device to ingest particles, a digestive system, and a system to discard waste products; the opposite of osmotroph.

1. Feeding by ingesting organic particulate matter.
2. A reference to cells in the blood or body fluid that ingest foreign particles.