You Are What (Defect) You Eat

I think it’s good to be reminded of the sacrifices we make when we leave the production of our food in the hands of others. For example, when I was a little kid, my dad used to bring big bags of chocolate back from his trips to the United States. I’ll never forget the time my sister and I split a huge package of Whachamacallit chocolate bars, my favourite at the time. I tucked into the first one, and noticed it tasted strange; not exactly stale, but really, really close. After my second bite, a big chunk fell away from the bar. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be the dried corpse of a moth, balled up in spiderwebs. I was too stunned to feel sick. And to be fair, I was too young to be that picky where free chocolate was involved.

Fast forward to a few days ago, when I found this page, which outlines the levels of “defect” that, if discovered, require action by the American Food and Drug Association.

Take a gander. I think you might be surprised how defective our food (or at least, our Southern neighbours’ food) is allowed to be.

That chocolate bar was probably legal.