Snokist Growers, the Washington-based company that received the stern talk from FDA officials after their apple sauce packages rife with green, brown, white and grey mould this August, was the latest example of a common practice.
In order to save money, many companies remove damaged or mouldy parts of their products before blasting the goods with strong heat in order to disinfect the food.
After they use temperature changes to disinfect, the companies then repackage the food and send it off to their clients as if nothing is wrong.
The heat-blasting technique is common.
As is the one where processors take faulty or mislabelled blueberry ice cream and mix it with chocolate so that the taste is hidden.
Not only do producers sell and distribute food that contains mould or insects, the FDA advises the companies that their practices are fine, presenting 'levels of natural or unavoidable defects in foods that present no health hazards for humans
The FDA allows up to 60 insect fragments per 100 grams of chocolate before the food is thrown out. Same goes for corn, which the agency deems suitable for consumption if it contains only one larvae that is larger than 3 millimetres.
Pineapple doesn't get thrown out until it overtakes a 20 per cent mould count.
The continued recalls of food staples, like lettuce, have not stopped the producers from continuing their methods.
'Any food can be reconditioned,' Jay Cole, who used to work for the agency before starting The FDA Group which serves as a liaison for food producers, told MSNBC.
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