Finding A Hair In Your Food Isn't The End Of The World. Here's Why

If you haven't gone through the experience of finding a hair mid-way through a delicious meal, most would consider you lucky. It's not totally uncommon to be surprised by an unexpected addition while eating, as most people you ask would say they either have — or know someone who has — found a hair in their food while working their way through a delicious meal.

The incident has been played up as disastrous; some who find a hair in their meal might completely abandon the dish altogether. Others take to review sites, such as Yelp, to call the restaurant out on its lack of cleanliness. Still, others might tell the server but continue on with the meal anyway.

At the end of the day, how bad is it, really, to find hair in your meal? If you're one of those who always assumed worse things could happen, it turns out you're right.

Humans tend to make certain situations out to be much worse than they actually are, and this is no different in the food world. Slightly overcooking a dish, realizing you forgot to purchase an ingredient at the grocery store, or ordering a meal that you don't turn out to love can seem like the be-all-end-all at that moment. And such is the case with finding hair in your food.

Though it's certainly unsightly, it's not actually unhealthy — most of the time. FDA guidelines actually say that finding a few hairs in your food won't present any real harm, and that, in essence, it's perfectly fine to keep eating your dish. In fact, the FDA deems it quite normal to find rodent hairs in products like spices.

Vice reports that hair is made from a protein called keratin, and when ingested in small quantities (for example, accidentally consuming a hair with your meal), there is no harm to your health.

The whole idea of finding a hair in restaurant food might lead to wandering about what goes on in the restaurant's kitchen. If they aren't tying back their hair or wearing hair nets, what other health practices might they be ignoring? Of course, not knowing these things could be what leads us to set our plates aside once discovering even one pesky strand.

Rather than worry so much about hair in your food, there are a few other things to keep an eye on to know how clean a restaurant really is. Certain cities require restaurant owners to display the health department rating in the restaurant's window (A, B, or C), which is a clear indication of the restaurant's cleanliness. Plus, Women's Health says to pay attention to the bathroom — does the sink have soap? If not, it could be a sign that employees aren't washing their hands after using the restroom. And finally, take a look at the table and silverware. Watermarks on utensils aren't a bad sign, but caked-on food is. Plus, if your table still has food or liquids from the last party to sit there, it's a sign employees are not diligently cleaning.