Dried Fruit

[drab91]

Well I have kept on track.. and am still feeding Mavric his fresh food everyday. and he is doing good.. even eating a bit I think.. but his true love is still his mix.. so I want to pump it up a bit more..

Now when you guys say "seed" diets.. is that when there is just one type of seed?? like those "parakeet" mixes??
Cause I look at his mix I have made.. and there is so many grains and other things. looks quite wholesome.. but I want to get a bit more fruit in there...
I want to buy a brand new coffee grinder (clean) and buy some dried fruit like some dried pineapple, apple, mango and stuff.. and bust it up a little bit to get it nice and small and mix it in with his seed mix.. right now there is just papaya and banana chips in there I think.. oh and Coconut as well.. Just thought I would throw it buy you guys.. any harm in doing this?? And is it best to buy the "bird" dried fruit or any quality unsweetened dried fruit in the super market??
Is Dried fruit just as good for you as fresh fruit?
Thanks!

[Kumiko]

I would believe that dried fruit would have more sugar, but I don't really know for sure or not.

[drab91]

Ahh per volume, you are quite right.. it is OK.. I went and looked at my Mix ingredients.. and it has everything except the kitchen sink.. dried carrots, canto lope seed.. every which kind of millet as well as apple and coconut.. so I guess it is a pretty good mix as it is!

[Koki]

Some dried fruits have very little added. Others have a ton of sugar/honey etc., and preservatives. Apples, pears, generally have the least, if any, added sugar. Usually sulfur is added to prevent browning, but not always. Peaches, necterines are somewhere in between. Bananas, coconut, mango, papya, pineapple, these things almost always have a ton of additives and sugar.

Check the labels and you'll do fine.

Another option would be canned fruit. Apple sauce is a great treat by itself, added to oatmeal, or cooked into just about anything. You can generally buy this with nothing added accept ascorbic acid (vitimin C) which prevents browning. Always check the ingrediants b/c every brand is different. You can empty a big jar in an ice-cube try, freeze for one hour, then dump them into a freezer bag. Pull one out about an hour before you need it, or pull it out the day befor and put it in the fridge.

Another good option is the canned mixed fruit cocktail. Most brands have half a dozen or more additives. But the cheapest brand at walmart (GreatValue) happens to be the one brand with nothing added accept red-color dye (all brands have this, plus a lot more usually). You can drain off the pear-juice it's packed in, mix it with the apple sauce, then freeze into cubes.

Anotther good option (maybe the best) is just buy a bag of mixed frozen fruit and take out a piece when you need it.

I'm not trying to discourage you from dried fruit, it sure is convienent, but expensive, hard to find without additieves, and even the best store bought tastes pale compared to home dried. Yes, I even bought a food dehydrator for my birds. It's a lot of work, fun once in a while, and tastes 10 times better then anything you can buy.

[LucyP]

hrmm....

I hate to be the "naysayer" on this matter.... but what red dye is in the fruit cocktail? Does it contain maraschino cherries?

I have a fatal allergy to sulfites (so I've avoided giving these kinds of things to my pets). I do know that many dyes and dyed foods contain sulfites to preserve colour. Glucose syrup, malt, caramel colouring, fruit juice concentrates etc. all contain significant quantities. Plus, unless US labelling laws are significantly less stringent than in Canada (and I believe the reverse is true... I'm highly versed in food labelling regulation, how stimulating for conversation)... many classes of foods do not have to list all additives, such as sulfites and other preservatives. You can thank your local 'food lobbyist' for this.

Sulfite is blamed for feather-picking in birds and asthma in humans (along with bloating, vomiting and nearly dying at work, ha ha). So you might want to be careful to avoid it... dessicated coconut, dried potato and fruits etc. contain lots!

However, depending on where you live, your local healthfood store should have unsulfured coconut, fruits, seeds etc. Just ask them. In Vancouver, you can buy these kinds of things at the regular grocery store.

[Koki]

GreatValue Brand, No Sugar Added Fruit Cocktail in Pear Juice from Concentrate & Water. Ingredients: diced peaches, diced pears, water, grapes, pineapple sectors, pear juice concentrate, halved cherries artificially colored red.

So I guess it is the cherries. Every other brand had the red coloring plus at least 4 or 5 other additives which I don't remember off hand.

Here's a brief overview of US food lables

http://www.fda.gov/opacom/backgrounders/foodlabel/newlabel.html

All ingredients must be listed whenever there is more then 1 ingredient. This lable does not name the food coloring, so if you have allergies it might be best to avoid. I believe the canned fruit usually would have significantly less additives then dried fruit. Canned and/or frozen fruit quite often can be preserved with just concentrated fruit syrup, sugar, or vitimin C. In dried fruit the sulfides are much more common.

[Kumiko]

I heard red dye causes heart failure. I might find a link about it. It is saying to humans, but if it is a harm to humans, than birds must be no different...

[LucyP]

Koki,

yep, dried fruits have a much higher concentration of sulfite in them for certain.
I know that a lot of fruit concentrates contain sulfites and I don't see from brief glance through US regulations that the ingredients of ingredients need to be listed. (e.g. what is in the fruit concentrate... sugar? preservatives? ...)

plus grapes are sulfited in the vineyard to stop mildew... and obviously t his is way overboard. Sorry... just a pet project of mine and probably not relevant to your parrotlet's health unless he/she has an allergy.

Since I eat 95% organic food, I tend to feed mine the same but it does get kind of pricey and it may be unnecessary...

[Koki]

No LucyP, I do understand. I don't eat mostly organic myself. I do believe in US all ingredients must be listed, but I don't the link to verify this.

I would say this for all though; most treats made for birds have lower standerds then foods made for people. Most treats with dried fruits/veggies use all sorts of additives, salts, sugar, honey, preservatives, etc.

[Elyse]

Have you guys ever thought about buying a dehydrator? Works great for birdies and camping!! Takes a few hours to dehydrate apples (great for chips!) and about a day for anything else depending on how thin you slice it. The fruit then keeps *forever* if you keep it in a nice, air tight bag.

[Sally]

I dry sweet potatoes in my oven. It is fast and not as loud as my dehydrator. I make all of my dog's food and treats. Trudy and Chipper both love dried sweet taters. Not really dry, just a bit pliable.

[Koki]

I did buy a food dehydrator. Like I said, store bought dried fruit tastes incredibly BAD compared to home dried. Also, no additives.