Almonds

[Wanda and Flock]

I don't know if we have already talked about his but I just read about his.

Almonds are pasteurized as of late last year and one of the methods is using propylene oxide- toxic to birds from what I gather. If you have almonds in your bird food, you might check this out. Google it or something. One suggestion was to buy shelled imported almonds that are organic and here's a site to get them:

http://www.nutsonline.com/nuts/almonds/organic.html

I did some searching on it, doesn't sound good. If it's been posted, I'm sorry I missed it. Thought you might want to remove those almonds- especially shelled ones....

[Wanda and Flock]

Oops! Either shelled or not you might have pastuerized. Just read that too!

[Dot]

Thanks for the heads up. I have written myself an email to remind myself to call the L.A. Nut house tomorrow and ask them about it. I have emailed Monica about the food I buy from here.

Thanks again.

[Larry, Baby and Me]

Wanda - where do I go to get the info about the almonds???

The link you gave is for organic almonds -- is there info there about the non-organic ones?

Good info to know - but I can't find anything about it with a google.

Help please....

[Dot]

Wanda - where do I go to get the info about the almonds???

The link you gave is for organic almonds -- is there info there about the non-organic ones?

Good info to know - but I can't find anything about it with a google.

Help please....

Larry, I went to the FDA site and searched for "almonds" and "pasteurized almonds." The links are below. I bet this stems from the Salmonella in almonds from Paramount Farms about two years ago. No, longer than that. You can check the dates on the articles. They recalled everything with almonds, from packaged nuts to trail mixes.

I can't imagine pasteurized almonds in the shell. I'll keep looking too.

http://google2.fda.gov/search?q=almonds&x=0&y=0&client=FDA&site=FDA&lr=&proxystylesheet=FDA&output=xml_no_dtd&getfields=*


http://google2.fda.gov/search?q=pasteurized+almonds&x=0&y=0&client=FDA&site=FDA&lr=&proxystylesheet=FDA&output=xml_no_dtd&getfields=*

[Dot]

Wanda - where do I go to get the info about the almonds???

The link you gave is for organic almonds -- is there info there about the non-organic ones?

Good info to know - but I can't find anything about it with a google.

Help please....

Here you go, Larry.

http://www.localharvest.org/newsletter/20070619/almonds.jsp

It did come from the Salmonella outbreak.

Google "nuts + pasteurized." The above is just the first article from the Search Results.

[Wanda and Flock]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propylene_oxide (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propylene_oxide)

http://eight.pairlist.net/pipermail/psgc4coop/20071008/000206.html (http://eight.pairlist.net/pipermail/psgc4coop/20071008/000206.html)

http://pressreleases.kcstar.com/?q=node/3099 (http://pressreleases.kcstar.com/?q=node/3099)

http://www.almondboard.com/Programs/WaterQualityDetail.cfm?ItemNumber=27539 (http://www.almondboard.com/Programs/WaterQualityDetail.cfm?ItemNumber=27539)

http://www.inchem.org/documents/ehc/ehc/ehc56.htm (http://www.inchem.org/documents/ehc/ehc/ehc56.htm)

http://cornucopia.org/index.php/almonds/ (http://cornucopia.org/index.php/almonds/)


According to what I read, the only sure way to avoid pastuerized almonds now is to buy imported. And, they are pasteurizing all in shell almonds as well. There is a big debate on whether it takes away from the nutrition value. But, the chemical propylene oxide- bad stuff. Granted, I have no idea how much they are using and at what levels it's toxic. There are several countries that banned use of this stuff because it's so toxic.

[Larry, Baby and Me]

Wanda and Dot - thanks for the links and info.

Very interesting. I had no idea almonds were the cause of salmonella outbreaks. Here is an excerpt...

"After salmonella outbreaks in 2001 and 2004 that were traced to raw almonds, the Almond Board of California rallied for a federal rule requiring all almonds in the state to be pasteurized to keep bacteria from infecting the nuts while they dry in the orchard or while they're processed."

[Wanda and Flock]

So, do you think we have anything to worry about???

[Larry, Baby and Me]

Dunno - perhaps raw almonds do pose a risk. Over the years there has been such outbreaks caused by a variety of food products. Some food processing and handling methods have been changed as a result while others have not. Maybe this is a knee-jerk reaction -- I really don't know.

Also - there are so many urban legends that have circulated for years that have no basis in truth - such as apple seeds killing birds and peanuts in the shell having fungus.

My advice is to educate yourself the best you can and use your own judgement. When in doubt - don't.

[Wanda and Flock]

Dunno - perhaps raw almonds do pose a risk. Over the years there has been such outbreaks caused by a variety of food products. Some food processing and handling methods have been changed as a result while others have not. Maybe this is a knee-jerk reaction -- I really don't know.

Also - there are so many urban legends that have circulated for years that have no basis in truth - such as apple seeds killing birds and peanuts in the shell having fungus.

My advice is to educate yourself the best you can and use your own judgement. When in doubt - don't.

Well, the only thing that worried me is that propylene oxide stuff they use to pasteurize. Maybe in small doses it doesn't do anything, I don't know. But since it only began in Sept. of 2007, could be too early to tell. On the other hand is the two outbreaks of salmonella....in raw almonds. They have another way of heating the almond to pasteurize it but unfortunately, there's no way to tell on the lables which method they used. I did read a report that had some nasty results when tested on animals but again, I have no idea how much these mice or whatever were exposed to. I hate not knowing! So, as I am in doubt- I won't.

[Chrissy and Flock]

I guess this is one time I am lucky my Umbies are not like the norm, neither one of them likes Almonds ...

[Dot]

I checked with Monica. The nuts in my Veggie and Nut mix are grown in the USA and are 100% organic.

[Patty, Linus and Co.]

I guess this is one time I am lucky my Umbies are not like the norm, neither one of them likes Almonds ...


Same here Chrissy. But just TRY to take away their peanuts...

[Chrissy and Flock]

Same here Chrissy. But just TRY to take away their peanuts...

I did, for about 2 months, Cassie was a seed junkie... and I was hearing all this stuff about peanuts and mold and allergies that might be making her pluck... but I bought some human grade last week and I let them have 1 every now and then...

[Patty, Linus and Co.]

I did, for about 2 months, Cassie was a seed junkie... and I was hearing all this stuff about peanuts and mold and allergies that might be making her pluck... but I bought some human grade last week and I let them have 1 every now and then...

Mine would mutiny.

[Dot]

Here is the latest info I have on almonds. I buy my nuts from the L.A. Nut House. I called and talked with the owner, Don. He buys his almonds from Blue Diamonds, so he had to call them and call me back. First of all, FDA does not require notification of low level fumigants like propylene oxide. It is used in our pepper and many other ingredients. At Blue Diamond, they use propylen oxide. It is a liquid that turns into a gas. As the nuts pass over it, a fan sucks the gas up through the nuts. And these are nuts in the shell. They test these nuts and there are no residuals in the shell or in the meat of the nut. They also do tests to see if the process materially affects the taste of the nuts.

He told me earlier that he has talked with the growers about organic nuts. They say if they do not spray something on the nut, it gets a mold. If you bite into a nut and it is chewy, spit it out. It has a mold.

Don is good people and I have asked him questions before. As soon as FDA started recalling things with almonds because of the Salmonella outbreak, I called him to see where he bought his almonds. It was not from Paramount Farms.

Don thanked me for my question because he realized he learned so much talking to them about it. He has asked for something in print from them and he will forward it to me.

If you think these nuts are safe and want to order some for your birds, the toll free number is 1-888-454-6887.

[Dot]

When I went searching for info on almonds, the first site I opened was www.localharvest.org (http://www.localharvest.org/). They had a "Contact Us" button and I pushed it. I asked if almonds in the shell were also pasteurized. Here is his/her reponse.

Dot,
Thank you for your letter.
I believe that this pasteurization effort is only affecting almonds right now, but there are people who believe that it might "catch on" and affect other crops, including fresh vegetables. I do not know whether almonds in the shell are affected, but my guess would be no. You could contact the Almond Board and ask them?

The Cornucopia Institute (www.cornucopia.org (http://www.cornucopia.org/)) has taken up the almond issue and is keeping abreast of new developments and asking for more letter writers. They might be another good place to get information.

Erin

[birdscomefirst]

As we say in Brooklyn, Foist tings Foist. It is not an urban legend as far as apple seeds being dangerous. Snopes has a good article on it. Remember that most articles pertain to the apple seeds and humans. Two problems with that. One is that we pass the seeds through our systems relatively intact while a parrot would shell it.

The next is that we don't know how many seeds it would take to hurt a parrot vs. a human. Since parrots hull seeds before they eat them and since the crop does a real number as far as grinding them up, I think it would be far from an urban legend to think that the seeds of apple if ingested by a parrot would not have a danger associated with it.

Next, peanuts are known to harbor aspergillis, which is a fungus. It is a source of infection with respect to aspergillosis in parrots. While I agree with the author of the following article that the problem is probably blown out of proportion, the problem does exist and parrot people should at least know that it should be considered and is not "urban legend".

http://www.parrothouse.com/peanuts.html

Thanks,
Bill