What's Really in Your Peanut Butter Jar?
Natural Contaminants Vs. Pesticides
Food manufacturers can't grow, harvest, or process the food supply without these natural contaminants being exposed to food. Contaminants happen at every step of the process that gets food to the table. If quality standards didn't allow for a certain amount of these contaminants, the alternative would be more chemicals sprayed on food in order to guard against the contaminates. The chemicals pose potential risk. It's a contaminant verses pesticide situation.
A Couple Pounds of Parts
Since you are eating natural contaminants in your food every day, can you guess how much you may be eating in a year? It's estimated that you may be unknowingly consuming one to two pounds of insect fragments and grit (sticks, stones, bagging material) per year in your food. This is certainly disgusting, but it's probably not harmful--with one exception. People with allergies to certain natural or biological allergens may be at risk.
Contaminant Levels in Peanut Butter
According to the FDA Food Defect Action List, peanut butter is allowed to have an average of 30 or more insect fragments, 1 rodent hair, and 20 milligrams of grit in 100 grams. An 18-ounce jar of peanut butter is 510 grams. What this means is that you could find an average of 150 insects parts, 5 rodent hairs and 125 milligrams of grit in your 18-ounce peanut butter jar. But remember--this is just an average; some jars could have lots more and some less.
Acceptable Levels of Defect
The defect guidelines on food exposed to biological or natural contaminants establishes acceptable levels of defect. Mold, insect fragments, excrement, maggots, and rodent hair, sand, wood, and fiber have set levels allowed in peanut butter. Samples that fall under the set levels pass inspection and are allowed to be marketed. Consequently, you may encounter any one of these contaminants in your peanut butter sandwich. You can view the complete list of foods on the FDA Food Defect Action List on the FDA Web Site.
No Crunchy Peanut Butter for Me
I've known about peanut butter defect levels for years. That's why I avoid eating crunchy peanut butter. I don't want to crunch anything in my peanut butter--and if I do, I want to be certain it's not just a peanut chunk.
Sources:
U.S. Food and Drug Administration, "The Food Defect Action Levels"
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/dalbook.html#CHPTO
E. J. Levy, "The Maggots in Your Mushrooms", The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/opinion/13levy.html?_r=2
Published by J. Ellen Fedder
J. Ellen Fedder is an AC writer known for her conversational writing style. Freelance writer and one of AC's "Top 1000" for 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011, she offers a fresh perspective on family living and ed... View profile
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- Natural contaminants are unavoidable.
- To reduce contaminants would mean using more chemicals.
- Acceptable levels of contaminant are set for peanut butter.
6 Comments
Post a CommentPenelope Peril, I'm not sure how to answer your question. Perhaps you could Google it and do a bit of research. But processing plants--even from our gardens, can still mean rodent when processing, or even pet hair in our homes. It just seems to go with the territory.
it's been a while since I have heard anything about possible unlisted contaminants that might be in peanut butter. I suppose that is a good thing. However, I can't help but inquire about the posssibility that finding of rodent hair particles might still be mixed in with some brands of the peanut paste. how do processing plants ensure that this contaminent and other posbbilbe contaminants would be exposed and eliminated from teh processing of the final product?
Charlie, you might be right about that.
J.Ellen, I had to put down my peanut butter and jelly sandwich for this post, and I like crunchy style peanut butter. It has been said you never ask about what is in a sausage when you are eating one, this is a similar situation.
Lynn, you may forget it in a few weeks. Remeber what you heard about hot dogs? Still eating those? See, we forget things fairly quickly.
Yikes, that is way more info than I wanted to know about peanut butter!! Sometimes ignorance is bliss. I will never look at peanut butter the same now.