Can I eat bird food? (1 Viewer)

Dutchbirder64 said:

Sorry this is a 12 year old topic

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Good lord yes, I didn't notice the huge gap in dates

In the UK food for animal consumption does not have the same safety requirements as food for human consumption. Fungal contamination can be much higher and cross contamination between food stuffs does not have to be maintained.

Some fungal contamination can be very dangerous to humans and peanut allergies can be lethal.

By all means eat seeds and nuts but eat ones that have been stored and processed specifically for human consumption.

I agree with the moderator about the fat in seeds that humans and birds do have different fat requirements to birds. Someone on a weight loss programme will have to limit how many seeds they consume but at the same time because seeds make you feel fuller for longer there are fatty foods that are much easier to eat too much of the fat content in them that are heavily advertised. The fullness feeling of seeds makes you want to eat less frequently than a lot other foods. Were it not for this feeling I would agree with the moderator that this would be an issue but our body naturally signals to our brain before too many seeds are consumed. Essentially this natural warning needs to be listened to for people who need to loose weight for medical reasons. The problem with junk food for people on weight loss programmes is the body's lack of warning signals to the brain when you have eaten enough food, making you consume too much fat and gain weight.

In fact most animal food has very high safety standards. If they didn't they would get into big trouble. Humans have more liberty to eat food that is very very unsafe than animals. Fungal contamination of seeds is unlikely because fungi doesn't grow easily on seeds as fungi grows more on food that goes off like bread. I personally have kept seeds in dry places for a long time without them going bad. Fungal contamination is not the biggest food poisoning risk anyway as we have a natural phobia to fungi. Peanut allergies are rarer than problems like food poisoning. If people were really terrified of fungal contamination, people wouldn't eat bread.

pianoman said:

Good lord yes, I didn't notice the huge gap in dates

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Indeed, was expecting something a bit more currant.

Yes eating animal food is scary. The idea of eating food that is for animal consumption freaks people out I find. But really I eat much like an animal anyway and am still healthy. The only food I eat that has more than just one ingredient is pesto. I don't deem this food essential, but I have not found many health warnings on it and it is really tasty. The rest of my diet is largely one ingredient stuff from each of the 4 food groups. I like the simplicity of one ingredient food. On top of food from each of the 4 food groups there are real flavourings in my diet, trying to avoid flavourings that could put my health at risk. I like to forage for wild plants like animals eat.

The maximum level of aflatoxin in food for human consumption is 4 micrograms/kilo. The maximum level of aflatoxin toxin in animal feed is 20. Food intended for wild birds is not classified as "animal feed", aflatoxin levels as high as 100 have been found in wild bird food.

Phobia don't come into it when 1 ppm can give you cancer!

EdwinBrophy said:

Yes eating animal food is scary. The idea of eating food that is for animal consumption freaks people out I find. But really I eat much like an animal anyway and am still healthy.

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But what type of animal,? Carnivore / Herbivore or Omnivorous.
I do not understand some of your ramblings. Given that there is a proven movement by human beings to reduce or stop consuming meat, more diets now include various types of meat substitutes that are fungi based. So any great fear of this organism is much reduced, though recently I once ate one mushroom picked from my garden, that I thought safe - oh no, after some very vivid dreams and a troublesome digestive system for a fortnight I wont be repeating such impulsiveness.
As regards Peanuts we've known that poor quality or badly stored quantities are not recommended to be fed to wild birds.

By the way, are you interested in wild birds?

pianoman said:

Good lord yes, I didn't notice the huge gap in dates

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Dates are very good to eat, but if there's a huge gap in them, you shouldn't eat them - probably means a rat has been at them :king: