Why I don't care much for ketchup.

As I read Becky's entry this morning over at Down A Country Road I was reminded again of my distaste of ketchup. It came about after I'd read a USDA report in one of hubby's farm journals about tomato processing many years ago and I've had a very difficult time using ketchup on my fries since then. I also stopped buying "B" or "C" grade canned goods (the off-brand varieties).

I garden and at one time used to can or freeze every vegetable my family ate during the winter months. I always washed and rinsed repeatedly to make sure we didn't eat anything extra but I still watched every time I used a jar of the veggies in case something had escaped my attention.

After reading the USDA report, I became much more secure in my canning abilities and in the quality of food that I was feeding my family by processing them myself.

Anyway, here is a little information about what you might expect to be in a few of the products we frequently buy pre-processed. Keep in mind that these are grade-A products and the lower grades are allowed more "foreign matter".

—According to a recent article in the Christian Science Monitor, most of the frozen, processed and fresh foods we eat contain an FDA-approved amount of insects. The insects are allowed in the foods we consume because they are not considered harmful to humans, as the pesticides used to destroy them are. Also, the FDA has found the insects to be more nutritious than most of the foods they are found in! Here are a few examples: apple butter is allowed to contain up to five insects per 100 grams or 4-½ oz, berries may have four larvae or 10 whole insects per 500 grams, canned mushrooms 20 maggots per 100 grams, chocolate 80 microscopic insect fragments per 100 grams, peanut butter 60 insect fragments per 100 grams, raisins 10 insects per 225 grams, and wheat flour about 75 insect fragments per 50 grams. Bon appetit!
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