Opening a bag of pretzels can be harmless enough. You'd never think to find rat droppings, maggots, or mold in your salted snack. Turns out, no matter how disgusting these things sound, the Food and Drug Administration says it's safe to eat.
Live Science found a booklet published by the FDA titled the Defect Levels Handbook. In it, the book lists more than 100 different foods and foreign things found in those foods. Among them include: rodent filth, maggots, fly eggs, grit, sand, cigarette butts, mold and grit.
Of course, the FDA doesn't approve noticeable chunks of these nasty things in your food. Rather, the booklet lists acceptable levels of each item that's allowed to be present in food. For example, wheat flour might contain microscopic amounts of rodent hair and excrement.
According to the FDA, it's economically impractical to think you can grow or produce any kinds of foods without some bits of these "defect." Yes, they're officially referring to them as defects rather than hazardous waste materials.
Photo: The Lonely Island
