Are There Bugs in My Peanut Butter? You May Not Like the Answer…

The presence of bugs, rodent hairs, and other forms of filth in food is unavoidable. Under federal law, the Food and Drug Administration has authority to determine the maximum amount of naturally occurring and unavoidable, yet harmless, defects that can be present in our foods. That means we, as consumers, must accept the fact that most of our foods have always had, and will always have some level of disgusting, but relatively harmless content. Put simply, yes, there are bugs in your peanut butter. The better question might be, how many bugs are in my peanut butter? And how do manufacturers and the FDA know?

How Much Filth Does the FDA Allow?

The FDA has rules about how much filth all sorts of different foods can contain. They define filth as insect parts, other arthropods , rodent hairs, and excrement including urine and feces. Your peanut butter can contain any number fewer than 30 insect fragments per 100 grams of product. That means a small 16-ounce jar of peanut butter can contain an average of up to 135 insect parts. A large 40-ounce jar may contain approximately 339 insect fragments. And you can expect about eight to nine pieces of bugs in your peanut butter sandwich!

In addition to insect fragments, the FDA mandates a maximum number of rodent hairs allowed in peanut butter. They limit that number to just one rodent hair in every 100 grams of peanut butter. That translates to an average of about 4.5 hairs per 16-ounce jar, and up to 13 hairs per 40-ounce jar.

How Do Labs Count the Bugs in Peanut Butter?

You probably wouldn’t want anyone digging through your personal jar of peanut butter looking for bug parts and rodent hairs. And it would be impossible for manufacturers to inspect every bit of product that goes out the door. But they must have a way to reliably determine whether the amount of filth in their product is within acceptable limits.

Obtaining a Representative Sample

The FDA provides comprehensive training and strict guidelines regarding how to obtain samples for analysis . Each food subject to filth analysis has a prescribed sample size and a threshold of one or more types of filth. Instead of sifting through 1,000 kg bags of wheat flour, for instance, an analyst needs only to obtain one or more representative samples of the lot or batch.

Usually, samples are obtained at random. Blind sampling provides a more representative look at an entire lot than any other method. Sometimes, particularly if analysts suspect contamination in a specific container, selective sampling may be used.

Whichever method an analyst uses to choose samples, they must exercise extreme caution against contaminating the sample. Their collection equipment should be clean, and if possible, sterile. They should wear gloves, clean and lint free lab coats, hair nets, and goggles while obtaining samples. If the samples must be transferred from one container to another, utmost care must be taken to transfer every bit of the sample without losing any, or the sample could be compromised.

Macroanalysis vs. Microanalysis

Analysts test raw ingredients and products for insect and rodent filth, mold, and other types of contamination by using two different types of investigative techniques. They use macroanalysis, which is a careful inspection of the raw ingredient or product with the unaided eye. They may also use slight magnification of no more than 5X. This sort of evaluation is great for finding large particles and contaminants, but it does not catch many smaller particles.

Microanalysis helps the analysts find particles too small to easily see with the naked eye. They may first employ a number of different physical or chemical methods to extract any filth from the sample. Then they use microscopes to carefully examine residue and count the number of insect parts, rodent hairs, or other unacceptable filth.

What Happens if There Is Too Much Filth?

The FDA may require additional sampling and testing for lots or batches of food that exceed the amount of allowed filth. They may ultimately seize the ingredient or food product. If the results warrant, they may even perform a recall on food products with excess contamination.

Peanut Butter vs. Other Products

We have already discussed the amount of filth the FDA allows in peanut butter. Anything more than or equal to 30 insect fragments or 1 rodent hair per 100 grams of peanut butter is enough to trigger action by the FDA. You can find information about a wide variety of products in the FDA’s Food Defect Levels Handbook. The table below contains a few products to compare with peanut butter.

As you can see, the FDA allows fewer bugs in peanut butter, gram for gram, than many other foods. The action level for peanut butter translates to about 1 fragment for every 3.3 grams of product. The amount allowed for grain products is 1 to 1.5 fragments per gram. But the FDA allows many more insect fragments in spices, up to 125 fragments per gram of ground oregano! If that many fragments were allowed in peanut butter, even the creamy style might feel a bit crunchy.

Just for Fun!

Let’s take a look and see how many bugs could be in peanut butter cookies if you made a batch at home using common ingredients. Remember, the amounts of allowed insect fragments in the listed ingredients must be under a certain threshold, and the level is based on a representative sample, not your particular packages. This is just an estimate of the maximum number of insect parts, if all the listed ingredients had roughly the most insect fragments allowed.

How Many Bugs in Peanut Butter Cookies?

The recipe for JIF Irresistible Peanut Butter Cookies includes two ingredients with insect fragment thresholds listed in the FDA’s Food Defect Levels Handbook. Of course, you already know that the FDA allows any number under 30 insect parts per 100 grams of peanut butter. They also allow fewer than 75 insect parts per 50 grams of wheat flour.

This recipe calls for ¾ cup of peanut butter, or approximately 190 grams. It also calls for 1 ¾ cups of all purpose flour, or about 210 grams. The recipe makes a total of 36 cookies. Look at the math below to find out the maximum number of insect fragments that would be acceptable in a batch of these popular cookies.

Let’s do the math!

Well, that equals a lot of potential insect fragments in each homemade peanut butter cookie. But I love cookies, and I bet you do, too. Remember, the good news is that the little bonus ingredients that the FDA categorizes as filth pose no harm to humans if consumed. Small amounts of bug parts and rodent hairs are an unavoidable part of our diet, so go on and enjoy your food. A little filth won’t kill you.

Up Next:

• Bugs That Look Like Cockroaches (But Aren’t!)
• Kitchen Bugs Identification Guide: How to Get Rid of Each Type
• Bathroom Bugs Identification Guide: How to Get Rid of Each Type

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