Waiter! There's a Hair ...

So you went to a fancy dancy restaurant and found a hair in your food.
Is that bad? Of course it is. But is it unhealthy? Well, maybe not. At least the U.S. Food and Drug Administration doesn't think so.

They haven't found any evidence of people getting sick from eating hair that's found its way into their food. In fact, they don't even have any guidelines in its Food Code.

Hair is mostly keratin, which is chemically inactive. Diarrhea-causing bacteria are very unlikely to cling to it and enter your system. You'll need to eat a whole headful of hair to be affected by it. You know, like your cat's hairballs ("trichobezoars").

And did you know that food manufacturers use an amino acid found in keratin - L-cysteine - to stabilize dough and stimulate your taste buds? Sure, you knew that, didn't you? They usually get it from duck feathers, but sometimes they get it from human hair.

So relax! Next time you find a hair in your food, just remember that according to the FDA, it's okay to have up to two maggots per can of tomatoes, and 30 or more insect parts in three tablespoons of peanut butter.

I kid you not.

Ewwwwww! Waiter! Waiter!