Extraneous materials are any foreign substances in foods that are associated with objectionable conditions or practices in production, storage, or distribution of foods.

Extraneous materials include: (a) filth or objectionable matter contributed by animal contamination (rodent, insect, or bird matter) or unsanitary conditions; (b) decomposed material or decayed tissues due to parasitic or nonparasitic causes; and (c) miscellaneous matter (sand, soil, glass, rust, or other foreign substances). Bacterial contamination is excluded from these substances.

Analysis for extraneous matter (or solid impurities) is important both in selecting of raw material for food manufacturing and in monitoring the quality of processed foods. The presence of extraneous material in food products is unpleasant and can cause a serious health hazard to the consumer.

The main reason for carrying out analyses for extraneous matter in food is to ensure the protection of consumers from harmful or filthy food products. The analysis of filth test allows to detect and count light solid impurities of mineral, vegetable or animal origin, and gives information about food preparation, conservation and distribution too.

The light-filth method pays particular attention to extraneous particles contaminating food (such as insects, insect fragments, rodent or other mammals hairs, human hairs, feather barbules, carbonaceous particles, natural and synthetic fibres), extending to the identification of the material from which they have originated, animals or vegetables.

The analysis is applicable to cereals and by-products (flours, pasta and bakery products), fresh and conserved vegetables, spices, coffee, cocoa, milk and by-products, mushrooms and so on.

The hazards that must be addressed include physical, biological, and chemical. Biological hazards include bacteria, viruses, or other natural aspects that can cause a food safety risk. Chemical hazards include all natural or synthetic chemicals that could harm someone that consumes an item. Physical hazards, the focus of this paper, include all matter that when introduced into a food product can be hazardous or cause quality concerns (Motarjemi and Lelieveld 2013) .

Capella Innovations can analyze your product, and provide you the insurance that your product is clean.

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