A Risk Assessment is an extensive background check on a particular ingredient. This presentation captures the 5 most surprising discoveries I've made while completing a risk assessment on an ingredient.

1. Most Surprising
Risk Assessment
Discoveries
Adventures of a food scientist quality professional
“Raw Material Specialist (Extraordinaire)”
Top
5
GreenEyedGuide.com

2. #1:Psyllium Husk
andbugs
GreenEyedGuide.com
Source: http://www.perfectdump.com/buy-organic-fiber-supplements/ (no kidding)
Most Surprising Risk Assessment Discoveries

3. GreenEyedGuide.com
For powdered psyllium husk, up to 400
insect parts per 25g are acceptable
For whole psyllium husk, it’s not more
than 100 insect fragments
Most Surprising Risk Assessment Discoveries
SOURCE: US PHARMACOPEIA Monograph
http://www.pharmacopeia.cn/v29240/usp29nf24s0_m71745.html
#1:Psyllium Husk
andbugs

4. GreenEyedGuide.com
No reason to panic
– these bugs are not known to cause any
harm, this is just an accepted and
somewhat-natural part of the plant
Most Surprising Risk Assessment Discoveries
#1:Psyllium Husk
andbugs

5. GreenEyedGuide.com
Most Surprising Risk Assessment Discoveries
SOURCE: “Chemicals in my Food” Tumblr – Professor John Coupland
http://johncoupland.tumblr.com/post/95874982501/your-vegetable-juice-
is-not-vegetarian-and-you

6. #2: Moringa Leaf Powder
andsoap
GreenEyedGuide.com
Most Surprising Risk Assessment Discoveries
Source: http://eol.org/pages/486251/details
Source: http://www.moringapowder.com/

7. #2: Moringa Leaf Powder
andsoap
GreenEyedGuide.com
Most Surprising Risk Assessment Discoveries
SOURCE: Effcacy of Moringa oleifera leaf powder as a hand-washing
product: a crossover controlled study among healthy volunteers.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24528477

8. #2: Moringa Leaf Powder
andsoap
GreenEyedGuide.com
4 grams wet or dry Moringa Leaf
powder was as effective as non-
medicated soap for hand-washing
and 10-log reduction of non-
pathogenic E coli
Most Surprising Risk Assessment Discoveries
SOURCE: Effcacy of Moringa oleifera leaf powder as a hand-washing
product: a crossover controlled study among healthy volunteers.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24528477

9. #3: Acai
andChagas
GreenEyedGuide.com
Most Surprising Risk Assessment Discoveries
SOURCE: http://www.cloudforest.com/cafe/gardening/the-
acai-palm-t4378.html
SOURCE: http://dmt-
sbi3u.wikispaces.com/Acai+Palm+Tree

10. #3: Acai
andChagas
GreenEyedGuide.com
SOURCES:
http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/chagas/
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs340/en/
Pereira et al. Chagas’ Disease as a Foodborne Illness Journal of Food
Protection, Vol. 72, No. 2, 2009, Pages 441–446
Most Surprising Risk Assessment Discoveries
• Chagas disease is caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi
• Recent outbreaks of Chagas in Brazil have been associated with acai juice
• Transmission of the parasite occurs through infected triatomine bugs,
mixed in with acai fruit as it is ground into pulp

11. #3: Acai
andChagas
GreenEyedGuide.com
Most Surprising Risk Assessment Discoveries
No reason to panic
– just make sure the acai juice is
pasteurized

12. #4: Ginkgo Biloba
It’snotwhatyou think!
GreenEyedGuide.com
Most Surprising Risk Assessment Discoveries

13. #4: Ginkgo Biloba
It’snotwhatyou think!
GreenEyedGuide.com
Adulteration is high due to
consumer demand
1 g extract requires 50 g dried leaf
more demand than supply encourages adulteration
Most Surprising Risk Assessment Discoveries

14. #4: Ginkgo Biloba
It’snotwhatyou think!
GreenEyedGuide.com
The Good News:
Adulteration forces the science community to
develop better testing methods, but consumers
should beware.
Most Surprising Risk Assessment Discoveries
Ginkgo adulteration ‘very widespread’, say industry experts, so why is awareness low?
By Stephen DANIELLS, 05-Aug-2013
Adulteration of Ginkgo biloba is ‘very widespread’, according
to industry sources, but as the adulteration becomes more
sophisticated new methods are emerging to help industry
ensure the quality of this key herbal.
http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/Markets/Ginkgo-adulteration-very-widespread-say-industry-
experts-so-why-is-awareness-low

15. #5: Leafy Greens and
Grasses
GreenEyedGuide.com
For some ingredients, the literature
search doesn’t turn up anything
odd, but the lab test results do!
3 examples
Most Surprising Risk Assessment Discoveries

16. #5: Leafy Greens & Grasses
GreenEyedGuide.com
(1) The Center for Science in
the Public Interest (CSPI)
rated leafy greens #1 among
the Top 10 Riskiest Foods
Regulated by the FDA
BUT – 64% of the outbreaks
were due to Norovirus,
implicating poor food
handling (think Salad Bar)
(Not applicable for dry
powders)
Most Surprising Risk Assessment Discoveries

17. #5: Leafy Greens & Grasses
GreenEyedGuide.com
(2) The Environmental Working Group puts spinach in the “Dirty
Dozen” and leafy greens in “Dirty Dozen PLUS” due to pesticide levels.
When we send powdered samples to the lab for testing, we DO
request pesticide testing, but I have not had any samples fail this test
(yet, knock on wood).
Most Surprising Risk Assessment Discoveries

18. #5: Leafy Greens and Grasses
GreenEyedGuide.com
(3) After reviewing and testing MULTIPLE different samples of grass
powders (wheat grass, barley grass, oat grass etc) and leafy greens
(spinach and kale specifically), I’ve come to learn and expect the
following:
• Leafy greens have inherently elevated lead & cadmium levels
• Grass powders have inherently elevated Aerobic Plate Count
levels (APC = like a census of bacteria, not an indication if those bacteria
are pathogenic or not)
*Not as big an issue with the food, whole as it is with the concentrated
dry powder
Most Surprising Risk Assessment Discoveries

19. Thank You!
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Most Surprising Risk
Assessment Discoveries