Food Alert !!

[Peaches]

Please do not feed food from Chile. All Cape Parrot Rescue lost 8 birds tonight after feeding Chile Grapes. For updates you can go here :

http://www.skarlettsweb.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1469

[Skyebirdsmom]

Originally Posted by Peaches

Please do not feed food from Chile. All Cape Parrot Rescue lost 8 birds tonight after feeding Chile Grapes. For updates you can go here :

http://www.skarlettsweb.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1469

This came up several years ago too. I always peel a grape for my birds anyway. And strawberries aren't good either....of all fruits and vegetables, they hold more pesticide/herbicide than any other fruit/veg. I think it would be safest to feed them and ourselves Certified Organic fruits and vegetables. For safety's sake anyway. And yes, even if you have only one bird, you can buy any produce by weight....I have purchased 3 greenbeans, 5 grapes, etc. and no one says anything. So don't think you have to overbuy.
Linda & HRC~

[Lynjupiter]

The latest update

They think or is pretty sure it was a neurotoxin in the meat of the grapes. A fungus of some type. An autopsy on one of the M2s showed a perfectly healthy bird, no lung hemoraging or signs of illness. Thus it points to something that acts as a neurotoxin. The grapes are out for testing so I am hoping we hear something concrete in the future. This is a concern we all should watch.

A big thank you to Cape Parrot Rescue for letting everyone know about their birds deaths and going through the proper channels of verifing what caused the birds death. This may save the lives of a lot of parrots and make us look twice at what we are feeding. It might be time to look long and hard at exactly where our fruits and veggies are coming from and if they are really safe.
Lynda

[Lynjupiter]

Originally Posted by Skyebirdsmom

I think it would be safest to feed them and ourselves Certified Organic fruits and vegetables. For safety's sake anyway. And yes, even if you have only one bird, you can buy any produce by weight....I have purchased 3 greenbeans, 5 grapes, etc. and no one says anything. So don't think you have to overbuy.
Linda & HRC~

This is true LOL I am known to buy fifteen green beans, twelve brussel sprouts, a half a bag of greens or pick through the mixed nuts and take twenty almonds and ten pecans.
Lynda

[Lynjupiter]

I am stunned on how this thread is being ignored, that no one has asked for more info or links. This is 100% for real.

Nine birds have died seven beautiful large cockatoos, a noble macaw and a pionus. Cape Parrot Rescue is going through the proper channels of necrospy and testing of the suspicous grapes. This should be a hot topic and a scary one. I am very disappointed that a bunch of bird lovers would pass this thread by with barely a glance.

to those who might be slightly curious
http://www.allcapeparrotrescue.com/index.html

Lynda

[phantombirds]

Probably everyone is so shocked, when I saw the post I quickly went to their website to read and to the other forum since no one is really taking about it here.

I just threw out the grapes we just bought the other day. I have only given them one. It is scary, They said they did notice the meat of the grape was a little brown and not as green as the other grapes given some of the other birds that were still alive. I know I do inspect the grapes to make there is no rotten spots and make sure its a pretty green bright firm grape. But is this enough? how does one know if the grape has a fungus. So it didn't look like pesticides were the issue from Chili, It could be any grape from anywhere then. How is one to know??? I guess then it extends back to where I read months ago not to feed birds grapes at all. I posted a post recently Grapes or not? asking if they were safe and why bird could not have grapes. Maybe this hidden fungus is the problem? So many unanswered questions.

The big one is, if it was not pesticides and it was a fungus, then "How do you tell if the grape is bad?"

[Lynjupiter]

Originally Posted by phantombirds

Probably everyone is so shocked, when I saw the post I quickly went to their website to read and to the other forum since no one is really taking about it here.

I just threw out the grapes we just bought the other day. I have only given them one. It is scary, They said they did notice the meat of the grape was a little brown and not as green as the other grapes given some of the other birds that were still alive. I know I do inspect the grapes to make there is no rotten spots and make sure its a pretty green bright firm grape. But is this enough? how does one know if the grape has a fungus. So it didn't look like pesticides were the issue from Chili, It could be any grape from anywhere then. How is one to know??? I guess then it extends back to where I read months ago not to feed birds grapes at all. I posted a post recently Grapes or not? asking if they were safe and why bird could not have grapes. Maybe this hidden fungus is the problem? So many unanswered questions.

The big one is, if it was not pesticides and it was a fungus, then "How do you tell if the grape is bad?"

Hopefully we will know something more concrete in the future. They said the grapes were brought by a potenial volunteer and I wondered if tampering was involved. Some people are sick enough to do that. Anyways I would not feed any grapes until this whole thing is sorted out. There just might be a hidden danger to grapes that we did not know about. Even bigger question is if this can happen in grapes what other fruit can it happen to? Is it safer to feed dried fruit? cooked fruit? or frozen fruit? I called my vet to pepper him with questions and he first put it off as an urban legend. When I got upset with him he promised to look into it.
Lynda

[SavvyMoon]

I researched this topic as well...

Back in '89 there was a Chile grapes scare. However, from what I could gather, it was due to tampering, not due to the grapes themselves being "bad".
Also, it was limited to a very, very small geographical area, which again pointed to intentional tampering/tainting and not to the crop of grapes itself.

I'm very curious to hear what the results are from the necropsy.
And I'm not currently feeding my birds grapes from Chile, (thank gods!) so
I don't feel there's a need to really panic at this point.

I don't think this thread has been ignored. I'm just in 'wait and see' mode.
Perhaps others feel the same way?

[Peaches]

Lynda,

I had also e-mailed the board owners asking them to possibily make this a sticky so it wouldn't be buried; to make sure everyone can see it but I was ignored.

Here is what ACPR last posted; for the person doing the updates on his website made a mistake and he corrected it on this board:

Hi all

Just the initial necropsy is done will not know for sure about the grapes till monday or tuesday. The grapes are with the board of health. the tissue tests will take a week or 2 for the necropsy. I will email the person doing my web page and fix anything that is wrong. Please bare with us all at this time we are trying to keep everyone updated and some times facts get mixed up it is still to fresh in our mind to think straght all the time. I will post here the facts and if you all could cross post for me I would be very grateful.

http://www.skarlettsweb.com/forums/v...r=asc&start=75

[Lynjupiter]

Since we are on the topic of toxic food here are the en most important foods to buy organic

http://www.ckcchefs.com/organic_info.htm

The following article was forwarded to Conscious Kitchen, by a concerned Canadian citizen, who applauded our commitment to the use of organics. These figures relate to U.S. based research, and it makes sense that if pesticides are found at these levels by these tests, that they are present in similiar amounts in other fruits & vegetables. The solution? Dont panic -eat organic!

Even if you are not 'obsessed' with healthy eating, it makes sense to avoid foods treated with pesticides and chemical fertilizers. But where to start? Here are the ten most important foods to buy organic.

1. Baby Food Federal pesticides standards provide too little health protection for infants, according to a National Academy of Sciences report. In 1995 the Environmental Working Group in Washington, D.C., conducted laboratory tests of eight industry-leader baby foods and found 16 pesticides, including three carcinogens; 53 percent of samples had detectable pesticide levels. Earth's Best and Well-Fed are two>supermarket brands of organic baby food, or make your own by cooking, pureeing and freezing organic fruits and vegetables.

2. Strawberries A 1993 Environmental Working Group study revealed that supermarket strawberries were the most heavily contaminated fruit or vegetable in the United States. Seventy percent of strawberries tested contained at least one pesticide. On some farms, the strawberries are sprayed with 500 pounds of pesticides per acre. Avoid imported strawberries, which are subject to even less stringent regulations than domestic varieties.

3. Rice Rice is a major snack ingredient and baby cereal, because few people are allergic to it. But water-soluble herbicides and insecticides have contaminated groundwater near rice fields in California's Sacramento River valley, one of the nation's leading rice-producing regions. Get organic rice from Eagle Agricultural Products, Lundberg Family Farms, or MacDougall's Wild Rice.

4. Oats A crop-rotation grain used to maintain soil health and break pest cycles, oats aren't always "wholesome." In 1994 the FDA found illegal residues in a year's worth of Cheerios from General Mills, which voluntarily withdrew the contaminated product awaiting shipment. Organic growers provide oats, millett, quinoa, barley, couscous, amaranth, and spelt.

5. Milk To boost milk production, dairy companies inject cows with recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH). Some 79 percent of treated cows get clinical mastitis, a common udder infection. Treating them with antibiotics increases the chance of antibiotic residue in milk. Organic milk is widely available; sales are $50 million to $60 million annually.

6. Bell Peppers Testing U.S. and Mexican sweet pepper samples in 1992 and 1993, the FDA found six different pesticides; 38 percent of the peppers from Mexico, which provides 98 percent of the U.S. supply, had two or more. Peppers are a definite no-no when it comes to neurotoxins; in EPA studies, the greatest amount of neurotoxin residue, by far, was found in peppers from the United States and Mexico, followed by cantaloupe from Mexico, celery, pears, and green beans.

7. Bananas Toxic pesticides used during banana production include benomyl (linked to birth defects) and chlorpyrifos (a neurotoxin). In Costa >\Rica, a major exporter, only 5 percent of cultivated land is used for bananas, but 35 percent of the country's pesticide imports are used on banana crops.

8. Green Beans More than 60 pesticides are used on green beans. EWG laboratory tests on baby food found three pesticides in green beans, including neurotoxins and an endocrine disruptor. Nearly 10 percent of Mexican green beans are contaminated with illegal pesticides.

9. Peaches The FDA recently cited peaches for above-average rates of illegal pesticide violations; 5 percent of the crop was contaminated at 80 times the official tolerance level with the pesticide pronamide.

10. Apples Despite the 1980s battle that banned the use of the carcinogenic alar, 36 different pesticides have been detected on U.S. apples by the FDA, which also found up to seven on a single sample. (The U.S. >Department of Agriculture found nine.) The fungicide captan and the insecticide chlorpyrifos were among the 48 pesticides found most frequently in FDA testing between 1984 and 1991. Luckily, apple growers are leading the integrated-pest-management movement, which uses chemicals only as a last resort.-Francine Stephens and Betsy Lydon This list courtesy of Mothers and Others for a Liveable Planet.