[taneq]

Well, kind of both. As an engineer I applaud the fact that it optimizes for maximum usage while remaining in-spec. I'd still hope they preferentially discard the really nasty stuff. A few slightly discoloured grains per kg is much better than an entire dead mouse every 100kg.

[jfim]

You'd be surprised how disgustingly high the legal limits are for food to be considered defective in the US, though.

http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/GuidanceDocuments...

[david-given]

I have relatives in Australia who worked for the sugar industry.

Turns out that unrefined sugar is kept in gigantic open barns, and moved around with bulldozers --- not a clean process. Of course, birds and animals get in, and frequently die there, and then the sugar does... sugar things... to them.

As a result there is apparently a legal limit as to the maximum permissible number of crystallised parrots per tonne in Australian sugar.