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I am afriad since I replied to a posting on another completely unrelated thread that my question might not get answered.

I have been feeding my birds Gerber Graduate Sweet Potato Puffs (like little cereals sorta) as treats.

Someone on the other thread was talking about how zinc is toxic, but they were talking about it being in metal screws and such. What about zinc in foods? I notice the puffs have 10% of an infants zinc requirement and 6% of a small child's. Is this okay?

Zinc added to foods CAN cause problems. It is still the same metal, just in a different place. This is also why our vitamins are toxic to birds, what we can tolerate, they cannot.

Besides zinc, other problem ingredients in baby food are added sugar, salt, and iron. I tried finding the ingredients of the puffs by Googling, but have failed. Check the jar though to see what it reveals. Anything over 5% for sugar and sodium is likely added, rather than natural, and thus unhealthy for birds' small bodies. Iron becomes a problem because the seed and pellets most of us feed are fortified with the amount of iron needed, so adding more can cause problems. I know it's hard to give up a food your bird loves, but whole food (meaning unprocessed) grown without pesticides has a lot going for it!

Mercy, I don't think baby food is the best thing for them but there IS zinc in my AVIAN Vitamins so I think in natural concentrations as in fresh foods you have nothing to worry about. But even the smallest baby is bigger than most birds! The concentrations in gerber graduates may well be too high. The added sugars also can cause yeast problems. Stick with the fresh stuff. Better for the birds anyway!

The indredients are (in order)
rice, flour, whole grain oat flour, wheat starch, wheat flour, sugar, sweet potato powder, tri and dicalcium phosphate, natural flavor, annatto extract color, mixed tocopherols (for freshness), zine sulfate, alpha tocopheryl acetate (vitamin e), electrolytic iron

There's another very important part of the ingredients' listing required on each product. It's labeled "Nutrition Facts" and shows the % of recommended daily amount of fat, cholesterol, sodium, fiber, sugars, and protein in the food. The recommended amounts are usually based on something relevant to the human dietary needs and might be described in a footnote to the "Nutrition Facts" label. Below those amounts, you'll see the % of vitamins A and C, calcium, and iron. See what your jar says about sodium, sugars, and iron.

Mercy4Free wrote:The indredients are (in order)
rice, flour, whole grain oat flour, wheat starch, wheat flour, sugar, sweet potato powder, tri and dicalcium phosphate, natural flavor, annatto extract color, mixed tocopherols (for freshness), zine sulfate, alpha tocopheryl acetate (vitamin e), electrolytic iron

EEEk! I never give my birds anything with phosphate or any kinds of preservatives, or anything that I don't know what it is! I have actually found other baby products like this that had only fruit or the veggie and no sugar or salt or anything else

In this case zinc sulfate is used as the preservative. Sulfates are used in a lot of foods (even bird food) to preserve freshness. The dried fruit in most seed mixes has sulfate. Jet's seed mix has fruit dried that has sulfates, but there isn't much of it. You usually have to go to a store like whole foods to get sulfate-free dried fruit. You can also dry your own fruit and vegtables. It all depends how much of something they're getting.

I hate to sound like I'm encouraging zinc in foods, but the birds actually DO need some zinc. You'll find it in very low concentrations in just about every bird food made, as well as some of the other preservatives that are on the not good list, but you have to consider the amount of that particular food they will ingest in any one instance. If you really watch how much a 'tiel eats, you'd find it's not very much of anything. I'd personally say the sweet potatos would be OK, as they will not eat more than a gram or two of it.

Sam

That would be the difference between naturally occuring zinc in foods and the additives. If it naturally occurs there, I don't have a problem with it. If it has been added then I try not to let my birds have it. Also, birds, like humans, may metabolize the natural zinc differently. But then we go back to using your discression with what you feel is safe with zinc in a food.

The original post about zinc was in metals and hardware, we know that has caused problems with birds in the past. There is a very fine line on what is safe food wise and what could be too much.