Friday, February 27, 2009

What is the amount of foreign objects allowed in food?

In the wake of the peanut butter recall people are asking how much foreign objects are allowed in food?

It may make you sick to know that the FDA allows up to 30 insert parts or vermin hairs for each 100 grams of peanut butter! Yum!

In some countries, they allow foreign objects in the food, like this jumping maggot cheese:


Cheese with live maggots

And, in China, they eat vermin, both city rat and country rat:


Yummy stewed rodent head

Most people don’t know that they eat vermin and bugs every day, all allowed under the FDA regulations on the amount of foreign objects allowed in food.

In fact, some fish products (red fish & orcan perch) allow parasites and the accompanying pus pockets to be included!

However, it remains a felony for any food preparation service to place a foreign object in served foods:


The finger-lickin good Chili from Wendy’s was a scam

Please note that the FDA allows small amounts of rat feces and insect parts in Ketchup, because it’s virtually impossible to remove all particulate matter from mass produced tomatoes.

They make the distinction between natural contaminants (turds, dead critters) and foreign objects such as staples, broken glass, or jewelry. This loaf of bread is a violation:


An example of too much contaminent for foods

The FDA publishes a Food Defect Action Level list. Here is a sample of the amount of gross things that are allowed into our food:

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

CHOCOLATE - 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.

CANNED CITRUS FRUITS - Insects and insect eggs: 5 or more Drosophila and other fly eggs per 250 ml or 1 or more maggots per 250 ml.

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.