extraneous matter & filth analysis

EXTRANEOUS MATTER ANALYSIS

Market Survey:
ENERGY BARS, DIET BARS, HI-PROTEIN BARS, ETC.

To me this is a very confusing product line for the consumer. The calories per bar range from the mid 200's to over 300. I guess if you eat one of these in place of a meal it's a diet bar and if you eat one of these bars between meals it's an energy bar. One diet bar has over 12 grams of fat, while some of the energy bars have less than 3 grams of fat. But, the purpose of this report is to survey the sanitation fringerprint by analyzing for filth - insect and rodent contamination.

Seven bars were analyzed, representing six companies. Domestic and foreign companies are represented. Of the seven products, four claimed to be diet bars and three claimed to be energy bars.

Results on 225-gram sample using AOAC extraction procedures:

	Diet Bar:	3 insect fragments
	Diet Bar:	1 animal hair (4mm)
	Diet Bar:	4 insect fragments 1 animal hair (5mm)
	Diet Bar:	none
	Energy Bar:	none
	Energy Bar:	2 insect fragments
	Energy Bar:	1 rodent hair (4mm)
Opinion: Two companies have a clean product. One company or 17% of the companies tested contained rodent hair. Animal hair is contained in half of the companies tested. In my opinion better care is needed in the testing of raw materials and in processing this product. Remember 33% of the companies tested showed no evidence of a quality breakdown in their sanitation controls. The question is "What are the other companies doing wrong?"
For a complete list of the FDA's Defect Action Levels for food products, please visit FDA-CFSAN Defect Action Level Handbook. Send comments to

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EXTRANEOUS MATTER WORKSHOPS MARKET SURVEY

Market Survey:ENERGY BARS, DIET BARS, HI-PROTEIN BARS, ETC.

Market Survey:
ENERGY BARS, DIET BARS, HI-PROTEIN BARS, ETC.