It turns out that bugs might be a more integral part of your diet than you ever imagined! Many seemingly healthy foods lining grocery store shelves are teeming with insects, and the average person consumes approximately a pound-and-a-half of flies, maggots, and mites annually, unbeknownst to them.
What’s even more astonishing is that this insect ingestion is completely in compliance with FDA regulations for food safety. According to the FDA Manual of Compliance Policy Guide, there are specific guidelines dictating the acceptable presence of various creepy-crawlies in our food, citing it as “economically impractical to grow, harvest, or process raw products that are totally free of non-hazardous, naturally occurring, unavoidable defects.”
Prepare yourself for the unsettling truth as we delve into the gut-wrenching catalog of the most shocking, disgusting, and otherwise unappetizing bugs – from larvae to “fragments” – found in foods commonly bought and consumed in the United States.
So, before you embark on an exotic tour of edible bugs, put down that snack and take a closer look at what might be lurking in your kitchen right now. Bugs may just be the unlisted ingredient you never knew you were eating. Stay tuned as we unravel the buggy reality behind your daily meals!