According to a scientific blog we eat an average of one to two pounds of flies maggots and other bugs each year without even knowing it.[1]
As things stand insects often find their way into commonly consumed foods despite not being requested. Starbucks announced last year that it would stop using cochineal extract in its goods. Despite not actually coming from a beetle the dye is known as “beetle juice” and is frequently used to improve food colouring. Other words for cochineal extract you might have come across among the ingredients of some packages are “carmine” “crimson lake” “natural red 4” “c1.75470” or “E120”.
The Food and Drug Administration allows some insects in food products even if they aren’t ingredients because it is practically impossible to completely exclude them. The Food Defect Action Levels specify the maximum number of bugs (and other naturally occurring contaminants) that can be present in food. A cup of raisins can have 33 fruit fly eggs and still reach the shelves but 225 insect fragments or more per 225 grams of pasta are considered to be acceptable. The average person probably consumes one to two pounds of flies maggots and other bugs every year without realizing it although these levels are just guidelines and the actual amount consumed is likely lower.
Here is a handful of the supposed products that already contain creepy crawlers[2]:
A 16-ounce jar of peanut butter can contain up to 136 insect parts before it is deemed contaminated according to the FDA’s Food Defect Action Levels guide.[3]
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.[4]
If a 3.5-ounce can of mushrooms contains 19 maggots and 74 mites it is technically FDA-approved.
Around 120 insect parts may be consumed along with that steaming hot cup of coffee. Less than 10% of the coffee samples are approved by the FDA for consumption. According to Terro at that rate a typical coffee drinker might unknowingly consume nearly 140 000 insect fragments annually.
According to FDA guidelines a single cup of raisins may contain up to 35 fruit fly eggs and ten adult insects. According to Terro the FDA “allows for a small amount of guaranteed safe for human consumption insect material to pass into our food.” If not it would be too expensive in terms of resources to completely eliminate any flaws in food production.
Aphids are extremely small insects that only reach a maximum size of 2 to 5 millimeters but they account for 10% of all consumed insects worldwide. According to Terro aphids are also “notorious for infesting” fields and gardens where vegetables like broccoli are grown. When it comes to 100 grams of frozen broccoli the FDA allows up to 60 of these creatures. Terro calculates that if you regularly consume frozen broccoli you may unintentionally consume more than 1 600 aphids annually.
[1]https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/grubs-as-grub/#
[2]https://www.rd.com/list/foods-secretly-contain-insects/
[3]Food Defect Levels Handbook | FDA
[4]Consuming Creepy Crawlies (terro.com)
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