Sue Gilbert Sue is a consulting nutritionist. For many years she worked with Earth's Best Organic Baby Food, integrating nutrition and product development. She has written numerous articles on children's health and nutrition for parenting publications. Dear Eileen, The fresh apricot did not contain the sulfur. Many fruits that are dried have sulfur dioxide added to them in order to inhibit browning.
Sulfur dioxide is a preservative that, being a gas, is dissolved in water to yield sulfurous acid.
Sulfur dioxide prevents the discolorations of foods by combining with the sugars and enzymes. It also inhibits bacterial growth. Foods that contain sulfur are required by law to label it. However, if you bought dried apricots that were locally grown and processed, and were not intended to be sold across state lines, it may be that they were not labeled in accordance with the federal requirements. Many federal requirements do not apply to foods that are not sold out of state.