Lead in Food? Starting it's own thread...

[Nakiska]

At the risk of derailing this thread, I'd like to hear more about lead in frozen veggies and sparking in the microwave, maybe another thread somewhere?

Oh my gosh! I wondered...about a month ago, I was reheating up some butternut squash I had cooked up the night before and to my shock IT sparked in the microwave.

I thought I'd left the fork on the plate in the microwave, but when I opened the door...nope, no fork, JUST squash. I wondered what would make it spark like that and threw it out instead of giving it to my birds.

This is squash that I bought whole from the store, cut and cooked it myself. Could my utensils or the pan I cooked it in put lead in the squash????


Interesting subject I thought we could explore in this thread.

Toni

 

[henpecked]

I was wondering about this myself. I thought it must be faulty microwave, enough heavy metal to cause sparks is alarming.Maybe OP will enlighten us.

 

[roxynoodle]

It first started for me several months ago, the time when my Nanday mysteriously developed weakness in her feet. To this day we really don't know which cure worked, or if she recovered from it on her own.

But, the vegetables were sparking like crazy in the microwave. I was shocked that there seemed to be some kind of metal in them! I went online to see if there were recalls or some other information. I found quite a bit actually, that it is lead and cadmium. Also information on the FDA saying the levels were too low for alarm. Well, I have to tell you, I don't want to eat it! And I really don't think what might be "safe for human consumption" necessarily applies to our birds who weigh anywhere from a couple of ounces to maybe 3lbs for the large macaws. I even showed it to my avian vet. The test for lead was rather expensive and the bird had recovered so we decided not to run it.

However, this has happened with new bags of veggies several times since. And I've eaten frozen vegetables for 2 decades, being a single person, with no issues until a few months ago. The brands I've tossed out are Great Value, Green Giant and Pictsweet. I'm currently using Bird's Eye and no issues yet. It has happened with mixed vegetables, broccoli and squash.

My mom said don't eat frozen vegetables anymore, but it isn't the freezing process that's the problem. It's either the soil they are grown in, or perhaps fertilizer absorbed by the plants. If you don't put them in the microwave, you would have no way of knowing this stuff is in there!

I've seen quite a few posts here about weakness in bird's feet, so I suspect it has something to do with this lead in the vegetables thing. It happened to my bird as well. I was just lucky to catch it immediately. Now, her problem could also have been an infection or a selenium/vitamin E deficiency. There is vitamin E in her pellets and she does get foods rich in it and selenium, so that seemed odd to me. I also keep her food/water and cage very clean. I also think it could have been those vegetables.

Our birds probably could get ill from ingesting a very tiny amount of lead even if we don't. Just a heads up.

 

[Rio Mom]

I work in a convenience store, in the kitchen making food. On occasion, raw onions will spark when heated in the microwave! I've even seen them spark enough to burn the paper they are on.

 

[Pedro]

I would have not thought that lead poisoning causes weakness in a birds feet. I had 2 Alexanderines that actually ate lead sinkers & didn't have that symptom. However they did have all the other associated symptoms of lead poisoning. I was so lucky I knew what the problem was. A week in the Vet Clinic with Meds. The both birds survived.

I cook my frozen veg in the microwave everyday & have not ever experienced sparking. I do put my veggies in a dish with a lid though & always cook using the frozen veggies setting.

I never use the microwave for heating my birds food. To thaw out frozen veg i run the cold water on it. Always feed my birds raw fresh fruit & veg.

 

[henpecked]

We don't do frozen veggies much,try and grow our own when possible.We do freeze some stuff from the garden and u-pick ,but like Pedro don't use a microwave often.I'm alarmed that someone says comm.frozen contains lead, we might not ever know that using fresh products from the store/u-pick.How do veggies become contaminated with heavy metals?

 

[lizardsmells]

Keep in mind that dense veggies can have small areas of high concentration of minerals that will spark in a microwave. Magnesium and a few others, if I remember correctly. I really doubt it's lead. A cut grape will also spark in a microwave, but not because it's dangerous, just because of physics and the way microwaves work.

 

[Spiritbird]

I try to buy organically all the time, do not use frozen veggies for the birds and have not had sparks in the heating processing in microwave. Scary stuff!!

 

[Rio Mom]

Keep in mind that dense veggies can have small areas of high concentration of minerals that will spark in a microwave. Magnesium and a few others, if I remember correctly. I really doubt it's lead. A cut grape will also spark in a microwave, but not because it's dangerous, just because of physics and the way microwaves work.

I think that's the case with onions at work. Because it's only ever been onions (no other vegetalbe), and it only happens if they are placed onto the papers. It doesn't happen if they are put in a baggie or a container of water. When the "hey! onions spark!" first emerged on our work forum, people were running right out to the microwaves to try it out lol.

Also, nothing to do with vegetables, but this brings to mind living in the college dorm days. Friends and I decided we wanted to see what happens when you put a raw egg (in the shell) into the microwave. KABOOM! heh heh heh.....

 

[roxynoodle]

I believe I googled "metal in frozen vegetables" when I was looking for information. I had no idea if these were minerals in the vegetables themselves or if perhaps there was a recall for metal shavings coming off cutting blades at the packaging factories or what it might be. The info I came across mentioned lead and cadmium. Why it is suddenly a problem though is something I can't answer. My birds seem to prefer their veggies cooked. As a single person, buying fresh isn't always the best plan as I sometimes can't consume them fast enough. And now with my pancreatitis, I can't digest vegetables at all. I also have such a fear of this now I'm afraid to cook them any other way because I wouldn't know if it was in them or not. And yes, you will see little black burned holes in them if this happens. There will even be burned marks in your dish.

I have thrown away quite a few bags of vegetables though over the last few months. Whatever it is, I can't help but feel it isn't good for my birds. Using frozen also allows me to provide an interesting variety for them. I can add a little of this and a little of that. They used to just get some of whatever I was eating that day.

I don't know why this is happening now and never used to though. Right now I'm having no issues with the Birds Eye brand so I plan just to stick to that.

And yes, weakness in feet can be a symptom of lead poisoning. She did not exhibit any of the other symptoms of it though. It was probably 2 days after vet visit #1 that I happened to see the sparking in the microwave. So I looked up symptoms of lead poisoning, and then discussed it with the vet on the follow up visit. He thought it was possible. He looked up the testing information, but the blood test by itself would have been another $108. I asked if he thought we should run it anyway and he said since she was recovered, he wouldn't if he was me. So I said ok. He also said his last case of lead poisoning was an amazon who had eaten a lead weight, and even that bird's levels were low.

The timing is suspicious though. Her symptoms came on suddenly and they just happened to coincide with my opening that bag of veggies maybe 2 days before. It is the only health problem she has had in 12 years.

So I guess, read up on it and make your own decision. Mine has been to discard any bag of vegetables that have done this.

Oh and I did find one comment from someone who bought organic vegetables that did the same.