FDA’s 3 second rule on acceptable filth

A little filth won’t kill you and apparently the FDA has it’s own version of the "3 second rule" known as "The Food Defect Action Levels: Levels of Natural or Unavoidable Defects in Foods That Present No Health Hazards for Humans."Find out just how much rodent excrement is good for your chocolate, peanut butter or fruit juice.

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 OR any 1 subsample contains 3 or more rodent hairs	1

Citrus & Fruit Juice
	Insects and insect eggs: 5 or more Drosophila and other fly eggs per 250 ml or 1 or more maggots per 250 ml	2

Noodles & Macaroni
	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	3

Olives
	Insect damage: 10% or more olives by count showing damage by olive fruit fly	4

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	5

Pineapples (canned)
	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 Post harvest and/or processing animal contamination, Rodent gnawing – post harvest and/or processing damage, Field corn – harvest contamination rodent hair is found in 50% or more of the subsamples	6

Popcorn
	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	7

Sauerkraut
	Insect filth: Average of more than 50 thrips (small bugs) per 100 grams	8

Wheat
	Insect damage: Average of 32 or more insect-damaged kernels per 100 grams   Rodent filth: Average of 9 mg or more rodent excreta pellets and/or pellet fragments per kilogram	9

Tomato Sauce
	Insect filth: Average of 30 or more fly eggs per 100 grams OR 15 or more fly eggs and 1 or more maggots per 100 grams OR 2 or more maggots per 100 grams in a minimum of 12 subsamples	10

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.

Read a full list of "Food Defect Action Levels" from the FDA here.