A word to the wise: if you're squeamish, stop reading NOW. This week's website has a pretty high gross-out factor, and we wouldn't want any unsuspecting readers puking on their papers.
But for those of you who are fascinated by disgusting things -- or if you're just itching to know how utterly vile the "nutritious food" you're consuming is -- then keep reading. You see, our good buddies at the Food and Drug Administration have very detailed criteria for what passes inspection, and what is deemed defective.
They've posted their criteria online at http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/dalbook.html. The shocking part is just how much filth is allowed in our food.
For instance: canned berries (such as raspberries) can be up to 59 percent mold and contain up to 9 whole insects. Each spear or piece of canned or frozen asparagus can contain up to five beetle eggs or sacks.
More disgusting tidbits: Eggs or egg products are deemed perfectly edible as long as they have a bacteria count of 4.9 million or less per gram. With popcorn, up to 49 percent of the subsamples can contain rodent hair. And canned tomatoes are allowed to have one maggot per every 500 grams.
Talk about food for thought.
