''Eight insect legs in a bar of chocolate''

[Rachel Adams]

Hello.

What does this sentence mean? ''In an average bar of chocolate there are eight insect legs.'' Why would there be insect legs in chocolate?

It's from English Grammar in Context by Michael Vince.

 

[teechar]

It implies contamination. It's a stupid sentence. Forget about it.

 

[Rover_KE]

What aspect of English grammar is being exemplified by that sentence?

 

[Rachel Adams]

What aspect of English grammar is being exemplified by that sentence?

The use of 'There is/are.'

 

[tzfujimino]

Yuck!
:shock:

 

[GoesStation]

People are often shocked that safety standards allow insect parts in foods. The reality is that insects are ubiquitous; if finding a single bit of one led to a sample's rejection, we'd starve.

All humans are descended from thousands of generations of people who lacked all but the simplest means of protecting their foods from insect and vermin. Our food is vastly cleaner than it was possible for theirs to be, yet they survived to produce us.

 

[SoothingDave]

Zero is impossible, especially as we are able to detect more and more minute levels of things. Insect parts and rodent hairs. A vital part of a balanced diet.

 

[Raymott]

... yet they survived to produce us.

So they all survived into their teens? Yay!

In any case, "According to ABC News, the average chocolate bar contains eight insect parts. Anything less than 60 insect pieces per 100 grams of chocolate (two chocolate bars' worth) is deemed safe for consumption by the Food and Drug Administration."
https://www.nbcnews.com/healthmain/chocolate-allergies-linked-cockroach-parts-628784

 

[Rover_KE]

What aspect of English grammar is being exemplified by that sentence?

The use of 'There is/are.'

In that case, the sentence is fine, though the author could have chosen a more pleasant example.

 

[tedmc]

In an average bar of chocolate there are eight insect legs.

That is a bizarre and outrageous statement. It means that if you were to take ten bars of chocolate from a supermarket shelf, five of them would have insect legs in them.

 

[tedmc]

That's what "an average chocolate bar" implies, to me.

 

[Rollercoaster1]

Call it my bad luck or the carelessness of the food shops/stalls that whenever I ate out, I found insects in my food. Finally, I have restricted myself from eating out.

 

[PeterCW]

It may be safe for consumption by the FDA, but I am not so sure about consumption by me.

The contamination is in the raw cocoa of course. As a young man I worked in international banking for a while and saw a lot of import documentation for commodities which included the measured levels of contaminants. It can really put one off eating a bar of chocolate.

 

[Rachel Adams]

The contamination is in the raw cocoa of course. As a young man I worked in international banking for a while and saw a lot of import documentation for commodities which included the measured levels of contaminants. It can really put one off eating a bar of chocolate.

Oh my God! Chocolate had always been my addiction until I read that sentence in my grammar textbook.

 

[tzfujimino]

Oh my God! Chocolate had always been my addiction until I read that sentence in my grammar textbook.

Now, can you live without chocolate?

 

[GoesStation]

Oh my God! Chocolate had always been my addiction until I read that sentence in my grammar textbook.

Insects are everywhere. They get into food sources and leave bits of themselves behind. They always have and always will. Don't worry about it.

 

[emsr2d2]

When I visited a tea plantation in Sri Lanka, I was shocked to see how many (dead) insects and spiders were mixed in with the drying tea leaves. I asked someone who worked there how they separate the leaves from the dead animals before the leaves are turned into what we buy in packets or teabags. His simple answer was "We don't".

 

[Rachel Adams]

Now, can you live without chocolate?

I will have to. :-?

 

[Rachel Adams]

Insects are everywhere. They get into food sources and leave bits of themselves behind. They always have and always will. Don't worry about it.

I have never heard about it before. :-|

 

[GoesStation]

I have never heard about it before. :-|

You've been eating a small quantity of insect parts every day for your entire life. They aren't harmful.