Light and Heavy Filth Testing for Food Products
FTS Laboratories provides light filth and heavy filth testing for food importers, manufacturers, and brands across the United States. From our ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accredited laboratory in Chesapeake, Virginia, our analysts detect, identify, and count extraneous matter such as insect fragments, rodent hairs, mites, sand, and soil, so you can verify product cleanliness, meet customer specifications, and respond to FDA actions with confidence.
Light Filth Analysis
Light filth is extraneous material that floats when separated from a food sample, including insect fragments, whole insects, mites, rodent and other mammal hairs, and feather barbules. Using AOAC and FDA Macroanalytical Procedures Manual methods, we isolate light filth from the product, then examine it under the microscope to identify and count each element. Light filth analysis is commonly used for:
Spices, herbs, and seasonings
Flour, grains, and cereal products
Tree nuts, peanuts, and dried fruit
Chocolate, cocoa, and coffee
Imported products held under FDA detention or import alert
Heavy Filth Analysis
Heavy filth is dense extraneous material that sinks, such as sand, soil, stones, metal fragments, and rodent excreta fragments. We separate heavy filth by sedimentation, then quantify and identify what’s recovered. Heavy filth testing is especially important for spices, ground products, and agricultural commodities that contact soil during harvest and drying.
Insect and Hair Identification
Not all filth is equal. Identifying what was found, and where it likely came from, matters for root cause and regulatory decisions. Our analysts are trained by the FDA and McCrone in insect and hair identification, and our in-house entomology expertise covers stored-product pests in detail. We can tell you whether a fragment came from a field insect or a storage pest, and whether a hair is rodent or something else.
ASTA Cleanliness Testing for Spices
FTS Laboratories is accredited for ASTA Methods 14.0, 14.1, and 14.2, the American Spice Trade Association’s cleanliness methods for spices, herbs, and seeds. We help spice importers and processors check incoming lots against ASTA cleanliness specifications before product moves into production or distribution.
FDA Import Detention Support
When a shipment is detained for filth, the analysis has to be right and the paperwork has to be complete. FTS has decades of experience preparing private laboratory analytical packages for FDA review, and our filth results are reported against FDA Defect Action Levels so you know where your product stands.