Insect fragments

There are three major categories of filth and extraneous material that constitute contamination potentially hazardous, indicators of insanitation, and aesthetic defects (Zimmerman et al., 2003). Potentially hazardous material includes physical hazards such as hard or sharp objects, chemical hazards such as mites that can cause allergic reactions (Olsen, 1998), or insects that may carry food-borne diseases. Even if insects do not present a health hazard, the presence of insects as foreign matter in food is considered an indication of unsanitary conditions (Zimmerman et al., 2003). The presence of unsanitary conditions can be indicated by the presence of live or dead insects and by intact insects, fragments of insects, or insect products such as... 

EU member countries, such as the UK, Germany and the Netherlands, have their own specifications. The European Spice Association (ESA) has a set of quality minima for herbs and spices , but has yet to finalize the cleanliness specification standards for spices and spice products. Extraneous matter and foreign matter should not exceed 1 and 2%, respectively, and should be free from live and/or dead insects, insect fragments and rodent contamination visible to the naked eye (corrected if necessary for abnormal vision). Salmonella must be absent in (at least) 25 g of material yeast and mould, 105/g (target), absolute maximum 106/g E. coli, 102/g (target), absolute maximum 103/g (Table 6.11). 

The kava will be the roots, rootstock, basal stems or scrapings, which will be clean, and substantially free of dirt, soil, and other contaminants. It will be prepared using good manufacturing practice, and will not contain vegetable matter derived from other plant species, insect fragments, or any other extraneous matter. In addition, it will have the following properties. 

In the extraction of insect fragments, the surfactants and the mixture of oil-aqueous phases vary depending on the type of foodstuffs analyzed. For certain food commodities, acid digestion followed by washing with suitable... 

Perez-Mendoza, J., Throne, J.E., Dowell, F.E., and Baker, J.E. 2003. Detection of insect fragments in wheat flour by near-infrared spectroscopy. J. Stored Prod. Res. 39, 305-312. 

Separating insect fragments and rodent hairs from commeal and flour. 

In the tomato and fly eggs experiment the unwanted material was floated to the top. In this case, the waxy surface of the chitinous insect fragments or the oil-covered rodent hairs are wetted by mineral oil and floated away from the more polar starchy commeal and flour. The water and solid residue are drained away, and the oil layer filtered, leaving the insect fragments and some bran particles behind. These then are examined with a microscope. 

Insect fragments are more difficult to assess than fly eggs. The most serious situation would be if all stages of life were found egg, larva, pupa, and adult. This would indicate that the grain was infested heavily rather than... 

A European Community Council Regulation (No. 315/93) defines a food contaminant as any substance not intentionally added to food which is present in such food as a result of the production (including operations carried out in crop husbandry, animal husbandry and veterinary medicine), manufacture, processing, preparation, treatment, packing, packaging, transport or holding of such food, or as a result of environmental contamination. Extraneous matter, such as, for example, insect fragments, animal hair, etc. is not covered by this definition. ... 

Microscopic Analyses for Filth and Other Adulterants or Contaminants. Filth in foods is considered by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to consist mainly of insect fragments, and rodent feces and hairs, which are present at higher levels than are consistent with good manufacturing practices. Therefore, special analyses have been developed for the detection of these extraneous materials. 

Raw sugar—This is the tan to brown product obtained from the evaporation of sugarcane juice. FDA regulations prohibit the sale of raw sugar unless the impurities- irt, insect fragments, etc.—are removed. 

Commercial hee pollen is collected by means of netlike pollen traps, set up next to the beehives that remove some of the pollen from the hind legs of worker bees as they return to their hives. The collected pollen is manually rid of impurities (dirt, floral parts, insect fragments, etc.) and dried. Major bee pollen-producing countries include China and Spain. Bee pollen from China is mostly derived from buckwheat Fagopyrum escu-lentum Moench) and rape Brassica campes-tris L). 

The technique of the micro-analytical procedure is dealt with at length in the U.S. Food and Drug Technical Bulletin No. D and the A.O.A.C, but a method suitable for cereals and adaptable to other farinaceous products has been fully described by Kent-Jones, Amos, Elias, Bradshaw and Thackray. This procedure retains rodent hair, insect fragments and even mould fragments without losing their distinctive microscopic features. For the extraction and collection of extraneous matter the following procedure is recommended ... 

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