Infestation status of US corn

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Forum -> Household Management -> Kosher Kitchen

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sarahd

Wed, May 09 2012, 8:46 am

Anyone know how infested corn on the cob grown in the USA is? (or whether infestation is a problem with USA-grown corn at all?) How do you check it, or do you check it at all? I want to buy some corn on the cob imported from the USA, but at almost $2 apiece I don't really want to run the risk of ending up with buggy ears I have to throw out.

the chevrah

Wed, May 09 2012, 9:06 am

Yes, corn on the cob are heavily infested. I was told the frozen ones are ok to use.

MaBelleVie

Wed, May 09 2012, 9:11 am

We eat it every so often and have never had an infested lot. Star k and cRC are not recommending it shouldn't be eaten- just give it a good look to check for anything obvious.

Here, people often take off the husks in the store. Can you do that?

Happy18

Wed, May 09 2012, 9:20 am

Why would frozen be ok?

the chevrah

Wed, May 09 2012, 10:05 am

I got them straight from the farm, they were loaded.....
Frozen is fine b/c they clean them really well. They get between the kernels, I guess.

sarahd

Wed, May 09 2012, 10:07 am

MaBelleVie wrote:

It comes wrapped in plastic on one of those styrofoam trays (it's probably two weeks old already) with the husk mostly or completely removed, so no removing it. Even if they were loose and able to be opened, the store workers would probably have a heart attack if I tried doing it.

sky

Wed, May 09 2012, 1:36 pm

Don't know if this helps.
Last summer we were told to check the husks for bugs and if they were clean then we could assume the corn was clean. I'm not sure if you can do that without the husks on.
Are they harvesting corn yet in the USA this season or is it from last season?

sarahd

Wed, May 09 2012, 1:42 pm

At those prices it better not be from last year!! Anyhow, I can't imagine how you can store fresh corn from year to year.

lkwdlady

Wed, May 09 2012, 1:59 pm

We went vegetable picking around 2 yrs. ago.

I coudn't believe that after peeling the corn it was full of small worms! I ended up throwing out all of them - and we were really looking forward to the fresh corn on the cob!

I remeber eating corn on the cob when we were kids and I'm sure there was no issue of worms all over the fresh corn.

I don't know if it was the paticular farm that we picked them from but I did read up since then that corn is one of the vegetables that should be checked well.

We do buy the frozen brands with a good hechsher. Nothing like the fresh ones but I guess for now we'll stay away. (personally I can't even eat the frozen corn or canned corn since I saw all the worms - but it has a good hechsher and my family really enjoys it so I buy it for them very often)

AlwaysGrateful

Wed, May 09 2012, 2:31 pm

We go by the Star-K. We check the corn by looking at it. I've never found any bugs on it, though, am I missing something?

Mrs Bissli

Wed, May 09 2012, 7:56 pm

We regularly go picking our sweetcorns at a local pick-your-own, my parents
used to grow one for years, never had problem with the bugs.
If anything, you'll notice brown or blackish bug-eaten spot on the ear, usually at the tip.
It's pretty much obvious and shouldn't be hard to check.

The same with pre-husked ears on the plastic tray.
(Our local supermarket also had a special offer, though I thought it was from Gambia or
somewhere in Africa, not US).

sky

Wed, May 09 2012, 7:58 pm

AlwaysGrateful wrote:

We go by the Star-K. We check the corn by looking at it. I've never found any bugs on it, though, am I missing something?

IF the corn is sprayed for bugs (non-organic) and is from the beginning of the season we were told there are less problems and you are unlikely to find. As the season goes on you are more likely.
We grew corn one year, and I did spray it, but there were tons of bugs.

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