Inspired by this thread :
Would there be any negative side effects from eating live maggots? What could happen? It would be interesting to hear about a “worst-case scenario” (if there is one) from consuming a few of the cute little critters.
I dunno–since doctors introduce some types of maggots into open wounds as part of maggot therapy (you can look it up on Wikipedia–no link, sorry, I just ate), I’d guess that ingesting them wouldn’t have any ill effect.
Maggots used to debride wounds are grown in aseptic conditions.
I doubt eating live maggots would be a health risk, especially since I know there’s more than one delicacy that incorporates live maggots (Google ‘casu marsu’ or something like it). Maggots are no worse for you than, say, any other bug, and billions of people eat bugs every day without ill effect. The only reason we don’t eat maggots is because of the ‘eew’ factor — we only ever find them in association with rot and decay.
Well, worst case scenario probably is that by eating non-sterile maggots you could get salmonella… Since you eat them alive, so using high temperature is not possible, and just washing them could be not enough.
I don’t think there is much harm in eating live maggots. When you eat the live maggots, they soon become dead maggots. Even if you don’t chew them, the stomach acid should kill them. If you’re afraid they might start borrowing around in your guts, I believe they only eat dead flesh.
‘burrowing’ :smack:
I think the biggest health risk is going to be in the guts of the maggot. Because of what they last ate. They’re not the fussiest of diners. If you pull maggots off a cow pie, you’re going to eat bits of cow pie the maggots had been consuming. Or rotting flesh, or whatever. Consider your source, so to speak.
Purina make a maggot chow?
Enjoy, and pardon me while I puke.
From the link, “Risk of being eye damaged by jumping larvae. It’s advised that people eat this cheese while wearing protective glasses.”
Any food that I’m required to wear protective glasses because it could jump and injure my eye is food I’m going to pass on. Blech.
That’s only the species used medically. Many other types of maggots will quite happily eat living flesh and other tissues. Some do so exclusively and parasitically.
Yeah, that was pretty much the cause of the commercial failure of Pizza Hut’s Facehugger.
Chew very well, according to the wikipedia link on Casu Marzu;
:o
I stand corrected. I’ll make sure that the next time I eat maggots that I, … I’m just gonna not ever eat maggots.