Fun Facts About Your Food That You May Or May Not Know!

[dedmonwakin]

I was always aware that the FDA allowed only so much insects to be in your food. While I was in the emergency waiting room with my son. I picked up a Popular Science magazine and glanced over a small segment about the Cochineal Beetle being used by many manufactures for their luscious coloring that they naturally make. They dry the beetles and crush them to a fine powder to make the dye, which is commonly used for yogurt, maraschino cherries, sodas, make-up....basically anything you digest or use as a cosmetic that is red, pink, and purple. That surely fixed my son's sweet tooth. He generally likes anything red!!lol

The FDA will be making this mandatory that companies list these insects in their products in 2011, instead of listing them as natural coloring.

Here's some more fun, yet gross facts!

Insect allowance in your foods.

Canned Pineapples 20 percent positive mold tests
Canned Tomatoes 5 fly eggs and 1 maggot per 500 grams
Frozen Broccoli 60 mites per 100 grams
Ground Cinnamon 400 insect fragments and 11 rodent hairs per 50 grams
Peanut Butter 30 insect fragments and 1 rodent hair per 100 grams
Popcorn 20 gnawed grains or 2 rodent hairs per pound
Potato Chips 6 percent rotten chips


How do they come up with these allowances? A toss of the coin?

It's safe for me to eat 1 maggot per 500 grams.....what happens if I eat two???!!! lol

Any way, I'd love to see if anyone else has some interesting tidbits to add!

 

[ZIRO]

I don't mind eating a few bugs here and there. Ever had chocolate grasshoppers? MMmmmm Delicious - and I'm not even kidding.

 

[dedmonwakin]

I don't mind eating a few bugs here and there. Ever had chocolate grasshoppers? MMmmmm Delicious - and I'm not even kidding.

No, no chocolate covered grasshoppers....
But, I have had deep fried grasshoppers while visiting my relatives in Thailand. They were being sold like bags of popcorn. If I didn't know what they were, I could have sworn it was bread toasted to perfection...but I quickly came to reality when the thorny legs got caught in my throat.

 

[PatriciafromCO]

I've been feeding raw for my crew of GermanShepherds for 10 years I purchase and pay for USDA inspected human grade meat.. I can say I have had to drop so many meat sources due to mishandling of the meat that winds up your mouth, that isn't fit to feed to my dogs..

The latest was getting an order of (fresh never frozen pork) as I was unpacking it to put it in the freezer to freeze,, I notices how sticky and slimy it was soaking in large amounts of blood and even though already vacumed sealed in it's own plastic was sticking to the card board cases it came in.. I checked the processed date and it was 3 weeks old.. (we all know what leaving fresh meat in our fridge becomes after only a day now you know why it rots as soon as you buy it for already being close to rotten when you purchase it) , this order was already sitting somethere for 3 wks and I know because I got the orgininal box not the lable the local store slaps on it after they get it....

So I called the store I purchased it from,, they felt it was fine , nothing wrong with 3 week old fresh lol meat,, so I called the USDA office in Denver,, I was informed they don't have any exact regulation how old is too old for fresh meat to be stored and then sold to the general public for consumtion... The only distinction was if it was (obviously rotten can't get away with selling it would be the only USDA guideline)

 

[Mary Kay]

I may never leave my house again! Not for the faint of heart..this is for you Ded, for starting this thread!
The weirdest thing I have eaten is Rattlesnake..tastes like gator.

Gross Facts You May Have Never Wanted to Know - Associated Content

Why haven't you joined the Florida vaper's Club yet?

 

[Kate51]

I washed our lettuce for supper, but you always wonder....gotta say, that was a strange Thread, DMW, what brought that up....never mind I said that

 

[OutWest]

My God!!!! Think of the children!!!!!!


sorry, couldnt resist *heh*

 

[SueandCootie]

My God!!!! Think of the children!!!!!!


sorry, couldnt resist *heh*

Hey, think of the poor BEETLES!!!

 

[Hezaa]

I'm debating as to whether or not I should tell my vegetarian friend about the beetle dye...She would freak out. We took her out for her 21st and bought her Jaeger shots and told her there was deer blood in it, which is actually not true, and she flipped. Then we told her we were joking and we all had a good laugh.

 

[JrdUK]

Thanks for this info, I'm going to go drink my self stupid to kill off the brain cells.

Ignorance is bliss!

 

[dedmonwakin]

I'm debating as to whether or not I should tell my vegetarian friend about the beetle dye...She would freak out. We took her out for her 21st and bought her Jaeger shots and told her there was deer blood in it, which is actually not true, and she flipped. Then we told her we were joking and we all had a good laugh.

I believe there are lawsuits regarding this. Although it's stated that the FDA is forcing companies to now label this in 2011. I read some other statements that Health organizations and other groups had put the FDA in a position of no choice. Plus, many people are allergic to this insect and have caused death in a few across the world.

Not sure if any lawsuit would win though. According to some statistics, vegetarians/vegans unknowingly ingest more insects than some of us meat eaters. You can wash your greens all you want, but you can't get the microorganisms out or insects that have already bored into it. Such as the mite reference in broccoli. Wash and soak as you like, but not likely you'll separate each crevice of the nappy broccili head!lol

 

[dedmonwakin]

I may never leave my house again! Not for the faint of heart..this is for you Ded, for starting this thread!
The weirdest thing I have eaten is Rattlesnake..tastes like gator.

Gross Facts You May Have Never Wanted to Know - Associated Content

Why haven't you joined the Florida vaper's Club yet?

Sorry, lol!

Never had Rattlesnake, but I have had gator and the gator taste like chicken.....so is it safe to say chicken taste like rattlesnake??!!!lol

What Florida vaper's club?

 

[dedmonwakin]

I washed our lettuce for supper, but you always wonder....gotta say, that was a strange Thread, DMW, what brought that up....never mind I said that

Well, as I said. I was in a little bit of a shock when I read the article in Popular Science over the weekend. Kinda forgot about it, until my wife soaked some leeks in the water yesterday for her fabulous Leek Soup and I looked in the sink and seen dead beetles floating about! Sorry.

 

[gashin]

Those additional ingredients add great protein value to all our foods!

I was always aware that the FDA allowed only so much insects to be in your food. While I was in the emergency waiting room with my son. I picked up a Popular Science magazine and glanced over a small segment about the Cochineal Beetle being used by many manufactures for their luscious coloring that they naturally make. They dry the beetles and crush them to a fine powder to make the dye, which is commonly used for yogurt, maraschino cherries, sodas, make-up....basically anything you digest or use as a cosmetic that is red, pink, and purple. That surely fixed my son's sweet tooth. He generally likes anything red!!lol

The FDA will be making this mandatory that companies list these insects in their products in 2011, instead of listing them as natural coloring.

Here's some more fun, yet gross facts!

Insect allowance in your foods.

Canned Pineapples 20 percent positive mold tests
Canned Tomatoes 5 fly eggs and 1 maggot per 500 grams
Frozen Broccoli 60 mites per 100 grams
Ground Cinnamon 400 insect fragments and 11 rodent hairs per 50 grams
Peanut Butter 30 insect fragments and 1 rodent hair per 100 grams
Popcorn 20 gnawed grains or 2 rodent hairs per pound
Potato Chips 6 percent rotten chips


How do they come up with these allowances? A toss of the coin?

It's safe for me to eat 1 maggot per 500 grams.....what happens if I eat two???!!! lol

Any way, I'd love to see if anyone else has some interesting tidbits to add!

 

[Mary Kay]

Ivisi started it. We are working on meets now. Come see us! But leave the beetles home please.
Located in Social Forums:
Florida Vapors Club

 

[TheColoradoDude]

Official Food, Inc. Movie Site - Hungry For Change?

This is a must see, especially with this topic. I saw it last night and it's good. For those of you that have read the Jungle by Upton Sinclair, or Fast Food Nation, this is a good see!

 

[Mary Kay]

Rattlesnake tastes like a Rubber Chicken!

 

[Kate51]

Colorado, that was nice, thanks!

 

[shivadance]

Official Food, Inc. Movie Site - Hungry For Change?

This is a must see, especially with this topic. I saw it last night and it's good. For those of you that have read the Jungle by Upton Sinclair, or Fast Food Nation, this is a good see!

Added to my Netflix q for when it's released on DVD, thanks!

I still try to shop at whole paycheck and buy organic and local when I can, but it's expensive. I'd love to hit more farmer's markets but I am not a morning person! I try to vote with my money as much as I can, it's what industries pay attention to the most I think.

I read a great book, David Kessler's The End of Overeating. Great study and insight into the change in American food and eating habits over the past 50 years. Easy read and highly recommended.

The End Of Overeating by Dr. David Kessler

As a veg the bug dye think really irks me... trying to think what I eat that's red that isn't a fruit. It's not possible to never eat an insect (I just breathed one in last week) but I will try to avoid anything that contain them.