Bugs, Rodent Hair And Poop: How Much Is Legally Allowed In The Food You Eat Every Day?
"It is economically impractical to grow, harvest, or process raw products that are totally free of non-hazardous, naturally occurring, unavoidable defects, ”says the US Food and Drug Administration.
So while there’s no way to get rid of all the creatures that might hitch a ride along the food processing chain, the FDA has established standards to keep food defects to a minimum.
The coffee beans you grind for breakfast are allowed by the FDA to have an average of 10 milligrams or more animal poop per pound. As much as 4% to 6% of beans by count are also allowed to be insect-infested or moldy.
Peanut butter is one of the most controlled foods in the FDA list; an average of one or more rodent hairs and 30 (or so) insect fragments are allowed for every 100 grams, which is 3.5 ounces.
The typical serving size for peanut butter is 2 tablespoons (unless you slather). That means each 2 tablespoon-peanut butter sandwich would only have about eight insect fragments and a teensy tiny bit of rodent filth. (“Filth” is what the FDA calls these insect and rodent food defects.)
Apple butter can also contain up to 12% mold, which is better than cherry jam, which can be 30% moldy, or black currant jam, which can be 75% moldy.
Canned tomatoes, tomato paste and sauces like pizza sauce are a bit less contaminated than the tomato juice in your cocktail. The FDA only allows about two maggots in a 16 oz. can.
Adding mushrooms to your spaghetti sauce or pizza? For every 4 oz. can of mushrooms there can be an average of 20 or more maggots of any size.
The canned sweet corn we love is allowed to have two or more larvae of the corn ear worm, along with larvae fragments and the skins the worms discard as they grow.
For every ¼ cup of cornmeal, the FDA allows an average of one or more whole insects, two or more rodent hairs and 50 or more insect fragments, or one or more fragments of rodent dung.
MUCH MORE AT THE LINK
Yuck!! You didn’t have to remind me.
Many MANY moons ago (like 40), I owned all 3 editions of The Book of Lists. There were lists of anything you can think of...sports stats of course, but also lists of people who died/were found dead in a bathroom, most heroic police dogs, top 10 most famous child kidnappings...just weird random stuff. Right up my alley!
Anyway, one of the books had a list like that, of how many impurities the government allows in various food items. So no surprise to me!
And they say eating vegetarian is healthy...
Thanks for that. I may never eat again.
Can I unsee your post?
So a pan of cornbread can have 400 insect parts?
And that’s only from the cornmeal.
Ick