Skyepony's WunderBlog

{{{Skye}}} - been lurking but not posting, thinking of you :)

Food for thought:


How Many Insect Parts and Rodent Hairs are Allowed in Your Food?
More Than You Think ... and Maybe Than You Want to Know!
by www.SixWise.com

How about a little rat hair with your peanut butter? A fly head with your macaroni and cheese? Though it may sound disgusting, these things and other gross filth the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) calls "natural contaminants" are indeed allowed and present in your food.

Mouse Bread

Gross but true: A certain number of rodent hairs are allowed in the food you eat. (A whole mouse, however, is not.)

In fact, so common are these contaminants that the FDA has published a booklet detailing the so-called "Food Defect Action Levels," which were needed, according to the FDA, " ... because it is economically impractical to grow, harvest, or process raw products that are totally free of non-hazardous, naturally occurring, unavoidable defects."

Surely, anyone who's ever collected lettuce from a home garden, picked apples right from the tree or strawberries right from the vine has gotten the unpleasant surprise of finding a spider, worm or other "natural contaminant" in their harvest. But in these cases, we're more accepting, or at least, more expecting, of finding an unwanted guest, and we're free to inspect each item for ourselves.

But what about when it comes to processed foods? Is there really any way to know how many insect parts have been ground right up with the rest of the ingredients? Probably not.

Think insect parts and rodent hairs are more of a rarity? Think again. An Ohio University fact sheet estimates that we eat from one to two pounds of insects each year, and without knowing it.

This is Gross, but is it Dangerous?

Quite the contrary. "They're actually pretty healthy," says Dr. Philip Nixon, an entomologist at the University of Illinois, in regard to insects, "If we were more willing to accept certain defect levels such as insects and insect parts, growers could reduce pesticide usage. Some of the spraying that goes on is directly related to the aesthetics of our food."

The FDA agrees that it's reasonable to accept more natural defects in our food in lieu of increasing the amount of pesticides sprayed on them:

"The alternative to establishing natural defect levels in some foods would be to insist on increased utilization of chemical substances to control insects, rodents and other natural contaminants. The alternative is not satisfactory because of the very real danger of exposing consumers to potential hazards from residues of these chemicals, as opposed to the aesthetically unpleasant but harmless natural and unavoidable defects."

However, there may be one health area that's been overlooked. According to Judy Tidwell, an economic service specialist at a state social services office in the Southeast United States who has struggled with allergies, trace amounts of insect parts that have been ground into food items ranging from strawberry jam to spaghetti sauce can affect people with allergies and asthma.

"We throw away the products that we see are infested. Just think how many we consume because we didn't notice they were infested. Ingesting insect material may cause stomach disorders, as well as allergic reactions," she says.

How Many Rodent Hairs and Insect Parts Are In ...

Peanut Butter

The FDA's action level for peanut butter is 30 or more insect fragments or one or more rodent hairs per 100 grams.

Here is a very brief sampling of the FDA's Food Defect Action Level list. They begin investigation when foods reach the action level they've set. According to the FDA, typical foods contain about 10 percent of the action level, but others say they contain more like 40 percent.

CHOCOLATE AND CHOCOLATE LIQUOR

Insect filth: Average is 60 or more insect fragments per 100 grams when 6 100-gram subsamples are examined OR any 1 subsample contains 90 or more insect fragments

Rodent filth: Average is 1 or more rodent hairs per 100 grams in 6 100-gram subsamples examined OR any 1 subsample contains 3 or more rodent hairs

CITRUS FRUIT JUICES, CANNED

Insects and insect eggs: 5 or more Drosophila and other fly eggs per 250 ml or 1 or more maggots per 250 ml

RED FISH AND OCEAN PERCH

Parasites: 3% of the fillets examined contain 1 or more parasites accompanied by pus pockets

MACARONI AND NOODLE PRODUCTS

Insect filth: Average of 225 insect fragments or more per 225 grams in 6 or more subsamples

Rodent filth: Average of 4.5 rodent hairs or more per 225 grams in 6 or more subsamples

PEANUT BUTTER

Insect filth: Average of 30 or more insect fragments per 100 grams

Rodent filth: Average of 1 or more rodent hairs per 100 grams

POPCORN

Rodent filth: 1 or more rodent excreta pellets are found in 1 or more subsamples, and 1 or more rodent hairs are found in 2 or more other subsamples OR 2 or more rodent hairs per pound and rodent hair is found in 50% or more of the subsamples OR 20 or more gnawed grains per pound and rodent hair is found in 50% or more of the subsamples

WHEAT FLOUR

Insect filth: Average of 75 or more insect fragments per 50 grams

Rodent filth: Average of 1 or more rodent hairs per 50 grams

Can these things be avoided? To avoid all unsavory food components, it seems, would be to stop eating all together. And perhaps we're just being too squeamish. After all, as Dr. Manfred Kroger, a professor of food science at Pennsylvania State University, says, "Let's face it, much of our food comes from nature, and nature is not perfect."


Link


Just a thought: Did mandated fewer insect parts in food lead to more chemical use?

Did the demand for quick frozen and processed food help create the problem in the first place?

We the consumer have a direct impact on the results. The producer follows our lead.
Legislation attempts to make up for our mistakes.

Seems like we the consumer is to blame for the direction of companies and our legislators.

WE the consumer demand quick and easy food.
After a time some of us notice a few processed insects in our faster food.
We complain.
Gov steps in and mandates fewer insects in our chopped up processed food.
The processors respond by using more chemicals to reduce the ppm of insect parts in our chopped up faster processed food.


Whom is to blame here?

And more importantly.....
Can larger convoluted Gov bureaucracies help?
Or can a more informed citizen be more directly effective in a direction away from unintended mandated consequences?

Food for thought.
We the consumers are in control.


There has to be a middle ground where the consumer has a more direct connection to his food provider.
And a limited amount of legislation that doesnt lead to the feeling that "its being taken care of for me"

Spathy - I give the article mixed reviews or at least my stomach did!

Morning all - chilly day here in Strasbourg, FR. This is my last free morning :(. Meetings start at two today and run through Sunday 4 pm. Yesterday we visited the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Strasbourg, very beautiful, area has lots of coffee shops and restaurants. Walking along the river is very enjoyable too. Great area to visit.

Stay safe,

Afternoon Skye ... Is cool up here today 59º with winds up to 30 mph making it feel even cooler ... last weeks Indian Summer was very enjoyable with temps in the lower 80's but it brings the reality of winter not far off ...

A egg a day is pretty good this early in their laying you will soon be getting more then enough for a family of 4 ... and the eggs will be getting bigger too ...

The blob in the Caribbean is a wait see to me but with the MJO moving over anything can happen down there in the next 2 weeks or so ...

Hope your enjoying your pleasant 82º weather ...

doesn't look like rain ...

The Caribbean blob southeast of Cuba is starting to come together. There is strong spin coming off the knee where Guatemala meets Nicaragua.

There is also some lazy wobbly spin associated with a blob at 35°W. Looks like the MJO is working.

Hi, Skye! I'm at a different workstation at work. For some reason, my regular work computer won't load your blog.

Anyway, I wanted to let you know how much I liked the webcam vid you posted on Bogon's blog. It was really neat!

Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!

The Cape Verdi low has surprised me it came off just a whiff of clouds and suddenly now has some spin this afternoon...

see the Keys getting rain ... is it going to head up your way or just of shore???

the blob in the Western Caribbean is going to meander a few days I think ... then the trof should take it north ... over northern Florida and the the eastern seaboard states ...

least thats my call until I change it ...