Does All Food Have Bugs In It?
permits a small number of insects in food products :
- A new study from an insect control company estimated that we eat, on average, 140,000 ‘bug bits’ every year.
- Mealworm, maggot, and roach pieces are found in everyday foods like chocolate, coffee, and wheat flour.
- It’s totally legal: The FDA allows small amounts of insect matter in our food.
The INSIDER Summary:
- A new study from an insect control company estimated that we eat, on average, 140,000 ‘bug bits’ every year.
- Mealworm, maggot, and roach pieces are found in everyday foods like chocolate, coffee, and wheat flour.
- It’s totally legal: The FDA allows small amounts of insect matter in our food.
The most popular edible insects are:
- Beetles
- Caterpillars
- Bees
- Ants
- Grasshoppers
- Crickets
Insects: The future of food?
- Obvious benefits. Entomophagy, or the practice of eating insects, has been an established tradition in many countries, especially in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
- Cricket crackers. Inspired by Finland’s insect-eating culture, Ryohin Keikaku Co., better known as Muji, began selling cricket crackers on May 20 last year.
- Farming growth.
To get in a hearty dose of green vegetables, many people turn to frozen spinach. However, for every 100 grams of the food, there could be four dozen mites and aphids mixed in, along with caterpillar larvae. To avoid the bugs, try selecting fresh spinach and other produce. Some of the contamination is washed away in the cleaning process.
How many bugs are in pasta?
The FDA legally allows up to 225 insect fragments per 225 grams of pasta before they ban the product from grocery store shelves. In case you didn’t do the math, that’s around one bug bit for each gram of pasta. Insects usually find their way into pasta through wheat, which can contain up to 75 insect parts per 50 grams (about ¼ cup).
The 16-ounce jar of peanut butter in your pantry can contain up to 136 insect parts before it is deemed contaminated, according to the FDA’s Food Defect Action Levels guide. This may sound bizarre, but it’s not uncommon for insect fragments—including their heads, bodies, and legs—to accidentally end up in the food we eat. Bugs are constantly present during the food manufacturing process, from the field where the food is grown to the storage and transit of the food to your grocery store. Grossed out yet? Here are more disgusting things you didn’t know were in your food.
If you eat frozen broccoli regularly, Terro estimates you could be unintentionally eating over 1,600 aphids every year. Zoeytoja/Shutterstock.
Aphids are tiny bugs—they grow to just 2 to 5 millimeters in size—but they make up about 10 percent of the world’s consumed insects. Aphids are also “notorious for infesting” gardens and crop fields that grow produce like broccoli, Terro writes. The FDA allows up to 60 of these creatures per 100 grams of frozen broccoli.
Chocolate. By the FDA’s standards, the average 4.4-ounce chocolate bar may have up to 74 insect fragments. That means chocolate lovers could be adding nearly 6,000 pieces of bugs to their diets each year, according to a recent study by Terro, an ant and insect control company.
If a 3.5-ounce can of mushrooms contains 19 maggots and 74 mites, it is technically FDA-approved. While it might be gross to imagine chowing down on baby bugs, the fragments are so small that you likely won’t even realize they are there. Plus, there is a lot of nutritional value in these insects. Mealworms, another form of insect larva, provide more protein than chicken or salmon, according to Terro’s research.
Coffee beans. Brewers, beware: As you sip on that steaming-hot cup of coffee, you might also be drinking around 120 insect parts. The FDA approves coffee samples that are less than 10 percent insect-infested.
How many insects does the average person eat a year?
Terro, an insect control company based in Pennsylvania, released a report that estimated that the average individual eats 140,000 insect pieces every year. But even though that number probably makes you squeamish, Terro says it’s totally normal. Even the FDA allows a certain amount of insect matter to make its way into our food in safe quantities.
Mealworm, maggot, and roach pieces are found in everyday foods like chocolate, coffee, and wheat flour. It’s totally legal: The FDA allows small amounts of insect matter in our food. Talk about unwelcome guests.
How many bugs are in chocolate bars?
We’re sorry to say it, but they’re in your chocolate. Up to eight bug parts are legally allowed in each chocolate bar. In fact, it takes 60 insect pieces or more per 100 grams of chocolate for this deceptive sweet to be rejected by the FDA. 6.
As long as frozen or canned versions don’t pack in more than 40 thrips per 100 grams, you’re allowed to tote it home for dinner. They’re also fans of apple butter, frozen broccoli, frozen Brussels sprouts, canned spinach, and hops. 8.
Each 8-ounce cup legally packs up to five fruit flies and an 8-ounce handful of raisins can pack a shudder-worthy 35 fruit fly eggs. These little pests also love tomato sauce. Up to 15 eggs per 100 grams of sauce and you’ll still be allowed to slurp it up on your spaghetti. 7.
Before you reach for that beer to help you cope with all this news, there’s one more thing you should know: hops contain an average of more than 2,500 aphids per 10 grams in addition to the thrips. Yes, 10 grams. At the very least, rethink that IPA.
Just because you avoid the processed candies doesn’t mean your food is free of bugs. The FDA legally allows mushrooms to contain 19 maggots – those rice-shaped larvae that feast on rotting food – in every 3.5-ounce can.
Though we can swat and swipe away the fruit flies in our homes, we’re sipping on them in our citrus juice. Each 8-ounce cup legally packs up to five fruit flies and an 8-ounce handful of raisins can pack a shudder-worthy 35 fruit fly eggs. These little pests also love tomato sauce. Up to 15 eggs per 100 grams of sauce and you’ll still be allowed to slurp it up on your spaghetti.
So yes, there’s actually bug juice in your bug juice. Not only is this a little stomach turning, it poses an ethical problem for vegetarians and vegans who might not be aware that they’re ingesting animal products. 2.
How to store insect free food?
Look for evidence of insects including holes in the packaging or wrapping. Store insect-free foods in tightly closed glass, metal or heavy plastic containers. You can also store foods in the refrigerator or freezer. Keep food storage areas clean. Clean up crumbs or spilled food immediately.
The many different kinds of insects that infest dried foods are often called “pantry pests.”
Insects infesting stored foods such as flour, cereal and other dried goods, is one of the most common household insect problems. The many different kinds of insects that infest dried foods are often called “pantry pests.”. You can find pantry pests when they leave infested foods to crawl or fly around the house.
Drugstore beetles feed on dried plant products such as spices, macaroni and other grain based foods, dried flowers, tobacco products and paper products, including books. Cigarette beetles. Stegobium panicum are similar to drugstore beetles. They are also 1/8 inch long, oval and brown with a head bent downward.
Clean up crumbs or spilled food immediately. Throw away old, unused products. Thoroughly clean cracks and corners of cupboards with a vacuum cleaner. Check and clean areas where pet food and birdseed are stored. Washing areas with detergents, ammonia, or bleach will not prevent insect infestation.
They are identified by the saw-like teeth on each side of the thorax. Larvae are cream-colored, slender, and about 1/8 inch long. They are found in many different food items, including dried fruit, cereals, nuts, dried meat, macaroni and seeds. Drugstore beetles.
The larvae are whitish worms with shades of yellow, pink, green or brown and grow to 1/2 inch long. Only the larvae feed in stored products, which can be any dry stored food or whole grain. Foods infested with these insects will have silk webbing present on the surface of the product.