Saturday, February 14, 2009

Maggots, Fly Eggs, and Rodent Hairs

Sounds delicious!

YUM!

We can thank the FDA for our yearly intake of about 1-2 pounds of this delicacy per year. I was recently enlightened about the FDA guidelines relating to bug parts in various foods. Here are some real "limits" on shit that is allowed in your food.

"Tomato juice, for example, may average “10 or more fly eggs per 100 grams [the equivalent of a small juice glass] or five or more fly eggs and one or more maggots.” Tomato paste and other pizza sauces are allowed a denser infestation — 30 or more fly eggs per 100 grams or 15 or more fly eggs and one or more maggots per 100 grams.

Canned mushrooms may have “over 20 or more maggots of any size per 100 grams of drained mushrooms and proportionate liquid” or “five or more maggots two millimeters or longer per 100 grams of drained mushrooms and proportionate liquid” or an “average of 75 mites” before provoking action by the F.D.A.

The sauerkraut on your hot dog may average up to 50 thrips. And when washing down those tiny, slender, winged bugs with a sip of beer, you might consider that just 10 grams of hops could have as many as 2,500 plant lice. Yum.

Giving new meaning to the idea of spicing up one’s food, curry powder is allowed 100 or more bug bits per 25 grams; ground thyme up to 925 insect fragments per 10 grams; ground pepper up to 475 insect parts per 50 grams. One small shaker of cinnamon could have more than 20 rodent hairs before being considered defective.

Peanut butter — that culinary cause célèbre — may contain approximately 145 bug parts for an 18-ounce jar; or five or more rodent hairs for that same jar; or more than 125 milligrams of grit.

In case you’re curious: you’re probably ingesting one to two pounds of flies, maggots and mites each year without knowing it"

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just like eating at kismut.

Ummmmm. . . magots. .

Unknown said...

That place should be burned to the ground.

scientist 1 said...

You sound like some sort of alarmist evening news host making the days events sound like a foretelling of doom.

Besides the additional gratis protein, I hear bugs are delish with a bit of melamine.

person 1 said...

I expressed no opinion as to whether I thought this was necessarily a bad thing. And I resent the comparison to an evening news host alarmist. I just thought that this was kind of interesting. That the FDA has limits on fly eggs in tomato juice. And that 10 are allowed per 12 oz serving. Where does this number come from? Bitch.