ABSTRACT
Hairs are adulterants of major regulatory significance in food, drug and cosmetic products. This chapter describes food, but applies equally to drug and cosmetic products. A variety of animal hairs can contaminate foods, and these are informally divided into two main groups, striated and nonstriated hairs, corresponding to groups of mammals typically having one type or the other. Striated hairs are those that have a discontinuous medulla; that is, the central core of the hair shaft contains an alternating series of cells and air spaces similar in appearance to a ladder. Unavoidable contamination refers to conditions in the field where rodents and other animals cannot be expected to be totally excluded, thus resulting in a limited number of hairs or fecal pellets in the commodity. The bat hairs most commonly found in foods belong to species of the cosmopolitan family Vespertiliontidae.
