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This article originally appeared in the Your Parrot Place Newsletter 03-25-2001.
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Food For Thought - What's NOT In My Bird's Food
by Gudrun Maybaum, Avian Nutrition and Herb Consultant
www.totallyorganics.com E-mail: gudrun@totallyorganics.com
With so many different bird foods on the market - how do you choose which is best for your bird? We hear and read a lot about what should be in our birds food. But, we rarely hear what we don't want in it. Some of these potentially harmful things I find in almost every food on the market.

Ethoxyquin, BHA, BHT - Would you give your bird rubber stabilizer or a pesticide to eat? Of course not! But that is exactly what ethoxyquin is. Originally developed by Monsanto Industrial Chemical Company in the 1950s as a stabilizer for things like alfalfa and grasses that were to be fed to livestock. Pet food was not even considered when the permit was issued. Ethoxyquin is also used to anti-degradation agent for rubber.

The FDA has ONLY approved it for use as a food additive for use in the production of paprika, chili powder and ground chili. It is not approved as preservative for human food and proven to cause liver damage and breeding problems in dogs. Is it in your bird's food? If you want to know more about ethoxyquin, go to www.parrothouse.com/ethox.html and read the "Investigative Report on Ethoxyquin" by Alicia McWatters. BHT and BHA fall in the same category.

Menadione - Another additive that stands my hair on end is Menadione, a so called source of vitamin K. The producer has a "safety sheet" on his German site. There it says that the person who handles the menadione needs to wear protective outfit, gloves, mask and glasses. If any contact with skin or the eyes occurs or it is inhaled an immediate consultation of a physician is necessary. If ingested, it could cause skin irritations (feather plucking?). The Merck Manual (www.merck.com/pubs/mmanual/section1/chapter3/3i.htm) says it is toxic, should not be given to babies and should NOT used to treat vitamin K deficiency. I could not find any dog or cat food and only a few brands of bird foods without it. The new thing is to "fortify" the seeds with vitamins and there we have the menadione again.

Artificial Vitamins - Then there are the vitamins added to pellets, seeds and other bird foods. Most of them are not vitamins, but an artificially produced part of the natural vitamin. For example: ascorbic acid is not the whole Vitamin C. It is only a part of it. There is scientific research that show the artificial vitamin parts do not have the same effect than the actual vitamin. But our packages can still show Vitamin C and mean ascorbic acid.

Sucrose - And why is there sucrose, which is refined sugar, in most pellets and a lot of other parrot food? I thought it was well known by now that sugar compromises the immune system, promotes candida, can even cause infections, diabetes and more.

Artificial Colors and Flavors - I don't even look at a products that looks like they could have artificial colors in it. If I see artificial colors or flavors on the label, the product is back in the shelf so fast it would make your head spin.

Choosing food is easy - instead of looking at what I want in my bird food, I first look at what I don't want and the selection shrinks to a small number of products. Is it safe, not safe? There is just no need to worry about such things when there are bird foods available without any of these additives.

Remember, it is up to you to choose what you think is best for your bird and you must do your own research, and form your own opinions. There is a disturbing tendency to jump on the newest band wagon about almost anything, especially in the information age. Ask yourself this, "What would my bird choose?"



Go to this site too that it request good info to read more.
http://www.parrothouse.com/ethox.html