Normally, people would not want to find insect parts, rat hairs, rodent feces, or maggots in their food. However, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is okay with the fact that there might be a few other food-items present in what we eat.
The FDA said that this occurance is 'natural and unavoidable' and that the agency has a 'Defect Level Handbook' which provides the guidelines for acceptable levels.
The handbook describes the maximum allowable levels of defects for more than 100 food items before they are considered to be contaminated and shouldn't be consumed. It would also be impossible to harvest or process raw products that are 100% free of naturally-occurring and unavoidable defects.
For example, the FDA allows cranberry sauce, which is used for Thanksgiving turkeys, to contain an average of 15 percent mold filaments based on the count of samples of the sauce are observed under a microscope.
According to Livescience, FDA explained the sources of defects which are either introduced before, during or after the food was harvested, or during its processing. The agency also described the significance of the presence of these items to consumers, such as how the imperfections affect the food's looks or cost, or how it affects the consumer's health.
Safety specialist Benjamin Chapman said that most food items available on the market contain levels that are much lower than what is allowed because companies have their own inspection units.
"Food defects are not things that cause people to get sick, it's helpful to think of these substances as defects in food quality rather than food contaminants," Chapman said.
"The handbook makes for a good discussion or entertainment, if these things were harmful to consumers, they would have been regulated," he added.
As explained by Chapman, it is totally difficult avoid having a few unclean things go into the finished product. These defects are in the environment where the food is being cultivated and as such, will be impractical to remove all non-hazardous defects found in them.
