Eating Bugs

Would you ever eat a cockroach? How about a fly? In some countries, eating insects is common. After all, they are a good source of protein. However, in other countries most people wouldn't even dream of eating a bug.

If the idea of eating bugs sounds gross, you might be surprised to learn that the average person eats over 400 bugs in a lifetime. It's true!

People don't often pick up bugs and start popping them in their mouths. So how does the average person eat so many bugs? By accident.

If you eat fruits and vegetables, your chances for eating bugs are pretty high. Bugs like to feed on fruit and vegetable plants. While farmers try to keep bugs away, they aren't always successful. Even the government recognizes that bugs sometimes appear in food. They say that broccoli and canned tomatoes sometimes contain insect parts. They also allow maggots into small amounts of fruit juice. Even though it sounds gross, the amounts of insects found in food won't harm you.

There are other ways to accidentally eat insects too. For example, when you're riding in a car with the window down or racing down the street on your bike, bugs can accidentally fly into your mouth. You can't fathom the amounts small gnats and other bugs that may have already flown into your mouth without you noticing.

Don't worry, whether in your food or flying into your mouth while you're outside, you'll barely notice the bugs. Over the course of a lifetime, however, they can add up.