Bug found in 50lb bag of rice...does rinsing and cooking make the rice edible?
Does rinsing and cooking make the rice edible? What are the food safety concerns?
Are you asking as an end user? Or will there be further packaging occurring?
This will be end user so rice will be washed and cooked
I would first try to get a replacement from your vendor. I can't think of a way to use this
Would not use myself, but as a local business owner of a chinese restaurant told me... I pick them out and use the rice.
Honestly been trying to read several times to understand this..
So this is an end user that found a "bug" in rice bag?
And you are asking if rinsing it (physically removing the bug) and then cooking make the rice edible?
Well if you do not see any bugs present after rinsing and cooking, from a food safety perspective, it is not a risk consuming that rice. But you know many end users see a bug in a product they want to consume, they automatically throw it away and do not bother consuming it :) is it still safe to eat though? Oh yes. But is it something we should be ok with? No.
But perhaps need more info on this?
General clarification/ quasi-rhetorical questions (bordering on ground somewhere between editorial and rant) here:
- Aren't there identity standards that allow for this?
- I would expect a minimally processed / raw agricultural commodity could at anytime have an insect?
I qualify these questions with the acknowledgement that "many" insects or a vector insect (fly, roach etc.) would be a certain point of changing the approach.
I don't think we could ever bear to eat a potato if we could identify all that micro-biologically present on it - yet not harmful. Perhaps a bad analogy, but the world is not hygienic and sterile from farm to processing and we do well to come to terms with the need for applying adequate controls and keep moving rather than prevent everything or reject the food. As the food waste momentum grow this may become a more common topic of conversation.
The consumer obviously one one level could understand this kind of inclusion is likely to occur, and generally accept it easier if they don't encounter it personally. (for example, I know people who say they will not eat meat if they would have happened to know the animals name..)
So, our duty as responsible food processors is first keep them safe by producing wholesome food and second serve in a manner that they don't feel it is necessary to ask.
To the specific question, in the end, if this is a common occurrence look at the supplier options and/ or validate a way to rework the ingredient safely. There are times when destruction of an ingredient is necessary, minimizing it is .
I offer this for your consideration.
Bugs Happen!
Cheers!
(The opinions stated do not specifically represent the policy or practice of anybody I am personally aware of or work for, and have not been fully vetted even in my own mind (this expresses my initial feelings, from limited experience at the agricultural end of the supply chain), therefore I leave open the opportunity to update these positions as more useful information becomes available and pertinent to any specific situation including this one.)
I'm not sure about the restrictions on an end user, but in manufacturing, the FDA allows a certain percentage of bug parts, right?
(a) Does rinsing and cooking make the rice edible? (b) What are the food safety concerns?
(a) The answer depends on (b)
(b) With respect to ? eg What is the bug ? Any more bugs ? Condition of Rice ? A History of Bugs ? New Bag ? Hygienic Storage ?
Need more context.
in not sure if this helps you or not. However, there is a lot of info on insects and rice in the USDA Rice INspection Handbook. Link below
Does rinsing and cooking make the rice edible? What are the food safety concerns?
I offer one possible, conservative, response.
The rice will probably be unsafe if a micro. toxin is a possible FS hazard, eg due B.cereus.. The latter relates to the rice history (also see Post 9).