''The Food Defect Action Levels: Levels of Natural or Unavoidable Defects in Foods That Present No Health Hazards for Humans'' is a publication of the
United States Food and Drug Administration's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition
[The Food Defect Action Levels](_blank)
last revised November 2005 detailing acceptable levels of food contamination from sources such as
maggots,
thrips
Thrips ( order Thysanoptera) are minute (mostly long or less), slender insects with fringed wings and unique asymmetrical mouthparts. Different thrips species feed mostly on plants by puncturing and sucking up the contents, although a few are ...
, insect fragments, "foreign matter",
mold,
rodent
Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are na ...
hairs, and insect and mammalian
feces
Feces ( or faeces), known colloquially and in slang as poo and poop, are the solid or semi-solid remains of food that was not digested in the small intestine, and has been broken down by bacteria in the large intestine. Feces contain a relati ...
.
The publication details the acceptable amounts of contaminants on a per food basis, listing both the defect source (pre-harvest infection,
processing
Processing is a free graphical library and integrated development environment (IDE) built for the electronic arts, new media art, and visual design communities with the purpose of teaching non-programmers the fundamentals of computer programming ...
infestation, processing contamination, etc.) and significance (aesthetic, potential health hazard, mouth/tooth injury, etc.). For example, the limit of insect contaminants allowed in
canned or frozen
peach
The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and cultivated in Zhejiang province of Eastern China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and others (the glossy-skinned, non-fu ...
es is specified as: "In 12 1-pound cans or equivalent, one or more
larva
A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle.
The ...
e and/or larval fragments whose aggregate length exceeds 5 mm."
''The Food Defect Action Levels'' was first published in 1995. A printed version of the publication may be obtained by written request to the Food and Drug Administration or see
External links
An internal link is a type of hyperlink on a web page to another page or resource, such as an image or document, on the same website or domain.
Hyperlinks are considered either "external" or "internal" depending on their target or destination ...
below.
Health hazards
The insect fragments are classified as an aesthetic problem. ''The Food Defect Action Levels'' states that these contaminants "pose no inherent hazard to health".
Additional examples
See also
*
Home stored product entomology
Home-stored product entomology is the study of insects which infest foodstuffs stored in the home. It deals with the prevention, detection and eradication of the Pest (organism), pests. The five major categories of insects considered in this artic ...
*
Food safety
Food safety (or food hygiene) is used as a scientific method/discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent food-borne illness. The occurrence of two or more cases of a similar illness resulting from t ...
*
Insects as food
*
Criticism of the Food and Drug Administration
References
External links
''The Food Defect Action Levels''from the U.S. FDA
*Levy, E. J. (February 12, 2009)
''New York Times''.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Food Defect Action Levels, The: Levels of natural or unavoidable defects in foods that present no health hazards for humans
Food and Drug Administration
Food safety in the United States
Publications of the United States government