top 5 most surprising risk assessment discoveries: day in the life of a food scientist qa...

Most Surprising Risk Assessment

Discoveries

Adventures of a food scientist quality professional

“Raw Material Specialist (Extraordinaire)”

Top 5

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#1:Psyllium Huskand bugs

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Source: http://www.perfectdump.com/buy-organic-fiber-supplements/ (no kidding)

Most Surprising Risk Assessment Discoveries

http://www.perfectdump.com/buy-organic-fiber-supplements/

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mFor powdered psyllium husk, up to 400 insect parts per 25g are acceptable

For whole psyllium husk, it’s not more than 100 insect fragments


SOURCE: US PHARMACOPEIA Monographhttp://www.pharmacopeia.cn/v29240/usp29nf24s0_m71745.html


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No reason to panic – these bugs are not known to cause any

harm, this is just an accepted and somewhat-natural part of the plant



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SOURCE: “Chemicals in my Food” Tumblr – Professor John Couplandhttp://johncoupland.tumblr.com/post/95874982501/your-vegetable-juice-is-not-vegetarian-and-you

#2: Moringa Leaf Powderand soap

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Source: http://eol.org/pages/486251/details

Source: http://www.moringapowder.com/


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SOURCE: Effcacy of Moringa oleifera leaf powder as a hand-washing product: a crossover controlled study among healthy volunteers.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24528477


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4 grams wet or dry Moringa Leaf powder was as effective as non-medicated soap for hand-washing and 10-log reduction of non-pathogenic E coli


SOURCE: Effcacy of Moringa oleifera leaf powder as a hand-washing product: a crossover controlled study among healthy volunteers.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24528477

#3: Acaiand Chagas

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SOURCE: http://www.cloudforest.com/cafe/gardening/the-acai-palm-t4378.html

SOURCE: http://dmt-sbi3u.wikispaces.com/Acai+Palm+Tree

#3: Acaiand Chagas

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SOURCES: http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/chagas/http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs340/en/Pereira et al. Chagas’ Disease as a Foodborne Illness Journal of Food Protection, Vol. 72, No. 2, 2009, Pages 441–446


• Chagas disease is caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi

• Recent outbreaks of Chagas in Brazil have been associated with acai juice

• Transmission of the parasite occurs through infected triatomine bugs, mixed in with acai fruit as it is ground into pulp

http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/chagas/

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs340/en/

#3: Acaiand Chagas

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No reason to panic – just make sure the acai juice is

pasteurized

#4: Ginkgo BilobaIt’s not what you think!

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Gre

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mAdulteration is high due to consumer demand

1 g extract requires 50 g dried leaf

more demand than supply encourages adulteration



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The Good News:Adulteration forces the science community to

develop better testing methods, but consumers should beware.


Ginkgo adulteration ‘very widespread’, say industry experts, so why is awareness low?By Stephen DANIELLS, 05-Aug-2013

Adulteration of Ginkgo biloba is ‘very widespread’, accordingto industry sources, but as the adulteration becomes moresophisticated new methods are emerging to help industryensure the quality of this key herbal.http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/Markets/Ginkgo-adulteration-very-widespread-say-industry-experts-so-why-is-awareness-low

http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/Markets/Ginkgo-adulteration-very-widespread-say-industry-experts-so-why-is-awareness-low?utm_source=copyright&utm_medium=OnSite&utm_campaign=copyright

http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/Markets/Ginkgo-adulteration-very-widespread-say-industry-experts-so-why-is-awareness-low?utm_source=copyright&utm_medium=OnSite&utm_campaign=copyright

#5: Leafy Greens and Grasses

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For some ingredients, the literature search doesn’t turn up anything odd, but the lab test results do!

3 examples


#5: Leafy Greens & Grasses

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(1) The Center for Science in

the Public Interest (CSPI) rated leafy greens #1 among the Top 10 Riskiest Foods Regulated by the FDA

BUT – 64% of the outbreaks were due to Norovirus, implicating poor food handling (think Salad Bar)

(Not applicable for dry powders)


#5: Leafy Greens & Grasses

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(2) The Environmental Working Group puts spinach in the “Dirty

Dozen” and leafy greens in “Dirty Dozen PLUS” due to pesticide levels.

When we send powdered samples to the lab for testing, we DO request pesticide testing, but I have not had any samples fail this test (yet, knock on wood).


#5: Leafy Greens and Grasses

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(3) After reviewing and testing MULTIPLE different samples of grass

powders (wheat grass, barley grass, oat grass etc) and leafy greens (spinach and kale specifically), I’ve come to learn and expect the following:

• Leafy greens have inherently elevated lead & cadmium levels• Grass powders have inherently elevated Aerobic Plate Count

levels (APC = like a census of bacteria, not an indication if those bacteria

are pathogenic or not)

*Not as big an issue with the food, whole as it is with the concentrated dry powder


Thank You!

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