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I called Cornell Lab of Ornithology for good measure and they said that if you do not know where the peanut butter ingredients came from in your flavored suet cake, dont feed it to birds. They did offer that since consumer grade peanut butter is currently not on the recall list, making your own peanut butter suet using ingredients you have on hand should be safe.
At a blog readers request, I have tried contacting Scotts Wild Bird Food about their suet and they have not answered me at this time, so I cannot say whether or not their suet is free of the recalled industrial peanut butter (this does not mean its not safe, but at the moment, it does not have the guarantee the other suet manufacturers have). I shook my head at their website. If you go to their web page for North American bird feeding, they show European goldfinches eating their food. Too bad we dont get those in the US. If a company doesnt even know basic North American feeder birds, how we trust that they know anything about feeding birds?
I disagree and asked Cornell about this matter. At the moment, there is so little information about the salmonella involved the outbreak we cannot say whether or not it will harm birds and its best to err on the side of caution. Here is some information from Dr. David Bonter, the project leader of our Project FeederWatch on salmonella and birds.
Okay, I have communicated with three different suet manufacturers regarding their nut flavored suets and the salmonella peanut butter recall. Currently, peanut butter produced from Peanut Corporation of America is at issue for salmonella contamination, not commercial brands that many of us have in our cabinets. Here are what three manufacturers told me:
“A bacteria from the genus Salmonella is the cause of salmonellosis.” Although the symptoms are not always evident, it is a common cause of mortality in feeder birds, especially in siskins, goldfinches, and redpolls. A sick bird may have swollen eyelids, feces on its vent, and a thin, fluffed-up appearance. Infected birds are often lethargic and easy to approach. Even though they may not exhibit any symptoms, some infected birds are disease carriers that can infect other birds.
FAQ
Is peanut butter harmful to birds?
Can birds get Salmonella from food?
Can Salmonella grow in peanut butter?
Can you use peanut butter to make a bird feeder?