We've all head the rumor about insects sneaking into our mouth while we sleep and sure, I'm sure a bug leg has snuck into our mouth during dinner but what numbers of insects we eat in a year are crazy.
According to insect control company Terro, it’s possible for someone to ingest close to 140,000 pieces of insects each year. But don’t worry, they claim it’s completely normal and safe! Yeah…we’ll let you swallow the throw-up in your mouth right now.
The amount of insect material allowed depends on each specific food, but in general, processed foods have more bug fragments and foods we eat whole have more whole insects. Yum, right? These are some allowable numbers of insects in half a cup of common foods we eat all the time. Brace yourself:
- Berries, frozen or canned - 2 whole insects
- Frozen broccoli - 60 whole insects
- Ground cinnamon - 800 insect fragments
- Macaroni and noodle products - 100 insect fragments
- Peanut butter - 30 insect fragments
- Ground pepper - 950 insect fragments