Here's What's LEGALLY Allowed In Your Food

The United States Food and Drug Administration does a great job ensuring everything we put into our bodies is safe, and while that might be true, it may still come as a surprise to learn there are some "interesting" things they allow to slip through. You see, there are all sorts of unsavory things that make their way into our food throughout the crowing, harvesting, and shipping process, that are unfortunately impossible to prevent. Fortunately, the FDA has identified the volume of these things we can allow to slip through the cracks and still not suffer any consequences. We're talking bugs, animal hair, cigarette butts, parasitic cysts! Yuck. Which of these things surprised you the most?

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-Doctor Mike Varshavski

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* Select photos/videos provided by Getty Images *

** The information in this video is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. All content, including text, graphics, images, and information, contained in this video is for general information purposes only and does not replace a consultation with your own doctor/health professional **

[pinkbunnygirl]

Watching this video as I ate my lunch was a great idea! 👍

[AonGuardian]

I usually have a strong stomach as a nurse with code browns and being able to still eat lunch afterward.
This video, however, actually ruined my meal. Kudos to the quality of education here!

[josephsteele]

This actually kinda makes to a story I had when I was younger. I was gonna eat a bowl of raisin bran when I was younger and as I poured my milk, I noticed some small black dots coming off the raisins. Thinking it was just residue, from the raisins, having been in our pantry for a few months at that point. (No one really likes Raisin Bran all that much in my family) It took a few spoonfuls before realizing, that those little flecks were in fact moving, and after close inspection, very tiny ants or some similar insect. So yeah. I don't eat Raisin Bran anymore.

[DM-qlps]

For the insects, to completely remove all insects from food we'd have to use much higher levels of insecticide, which would probably be more dangerous.

[weeblis]

The FDA actually requires any fish that is going to be consumed raw to be flash frozen before hand, this is to hopefully kill off any parasites that cannot handle the extreme cold or to slow down those that can.

[krool_aid]

The thing I appreciate the most in doctor Mike's videos is the subtitles. I'm not hard of hearing or deaf, but I have autism, and with it a difficulty separating some of the words I hear. It's kind of like I don't have the intuition that most people have when they hear each other talk, so I have to run a quick game of connect the dot in my head to find out what they said. I can't hear song lyrics, movie speech (especially unanimated), or people with accents very well. So, I appreciate the subtitles, doctor mike!

[Amanda-ifey]

Having worked in the food industry for several years, I wish more people were aware of information like this. I once watched a lady burst into tears because there was a ladybug in her salad.

[nickkovgunov]

This video is perfect:
1) it’s educational
2) it’s entertaining
3) reeeeally helps to stick to your diet
4) suppressed hunger at almost no cost

[kristinross]

2:26 - i love seeing dogs high five and maybe i’ve missed other vids but it was so cute that Bear gave you a high five!!!!

[TheRealGuywithoutaMustache]

This just got me paranoid on what I eat now

[livboyd]

Fun fact (for the USA specifically) - I work at a maritime terminal dealing with produce coming from other countries on boats. Random inspections are required for produce to ensure no foreign bugs or plant life make it over to USA. Doing this is intended to reduce the likelihood of things we don't commonly see in the USA. If bugs, weed seeds, or anything of the like IS spotted, all of the cargo that came from that bill of lading has to be fumigated.

So ALWAYS wash your fruit. And do yourself a favor, soak your strawberries in water (water with a little salt ideally) for a bit before eating it, you'd be shocked the amount of bugs that hide in strawberries...

[grannysquareswagonwheels]

When first married, my husband worked in quality control at a flour plant. His job was to count insect parts and mouse poop. 🤢 This is actually what causes the most salmonella when consuming raw cookie dough - uncooked flour rather than the eggs.

[Komi]

As a cat owner, I can confirm that there's cat fur everywhere in my food.

[jakobwhaley]

Reminds me of my dad's story of working on a factory dealing with the canning of foods and he said the amount of bugs everywhere was just awful, and no matter what they was at least a few bug bits per can and you are always going to be eating at least a piece of an animal no matter what.

[scientifreak]

Hey Dr.Mike, you're the biggest inspiration for me to go through med school without vomitting at cadavers. Thanks

[donnathomas]

I’ve worked in a vegetable processing factory. The insects come in with the harvest trucks and they’re impossible to fully separate from the vegetables. It’s no grosser than processing vegetables from your own garden that’s had bugs crawling in it and won’t hurt you

[katarinas]

Surprisingly I am still hungry after watching this video.. Thank you for all the new info, doctor Mike!

[annafirnen]

I really need to show this to my typical Polish mother who yells at me "HOW DARE YOU WASTE BREAD" when I don't want to eat bread with even a tiny bit of mold on it lol

[gachareacter]

I was actually told that my sister has a severe allergy to mold, to the point where getting the whiff of it could kill her. So now, whenever she drinks coffee, I'm gonna smack the mug out of her hands and say "I saved your life" and start eating coffee beans

[cantseeaidan]

you know i dont think anyone knew how entertaining a docter explaining stuff could be until docter mike came along