# I am paranoid about canned goods
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-paranoid-about-canned-goods/322145
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [September 17, 2005, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-paranoid-about-canned-goods/322145 "2005-09-17T19:52:25Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ChaChaHeels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChaChaHeels)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2005, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-paranoid-about-canned-goods/322145/1 "2005-09-17T19:52:25Z")
Frightened even!
Earlier this week I decided to have a can of green beans for the hell of it. While they were cooking I started thinking about if there was a bug in my can and other nice things like that. By the time they finished I didn’t even want them but I made myself have a few bites. I got stems in two bites and tossed them-now the thought of eating anything out of a can makes me sick to my stomach. I almost always eat fresh veggies so I don’t know what possessed me to buy these abominations. I need my own garden and food mill!
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### Author:  [@zelie\_zelerton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zelie_zelerton)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2005, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-paranoid-about-canned-goods/322145/2 "2005-09-17T20:21:04Z")
but i am now! :rolleyes:
Thanks for those lovely thoughts.
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### Author:  [@ChaChaHeels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChaChaHeels)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2005, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-paranoid-about-canned-goods/322145/3 "2005-09-17T20:57:44Z")
Want to go halvsies on a food mill?
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### Author:  [@elfbabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfbabe)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2005, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-paranoid-about-canned-goods/322145/4 "2005-09-17T21:07:57Z")
> [@ChaChaHeels](#):
>
> I almost always eat fresh veggies
… but what if there’s a bug in them? :eek:
Seriously, my take? Free protein. If my immune and digestive systems can’t deal with a little challenge once in a while, they’re not doing their jobs.
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### Author:  [@ChaChaHeels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChaChaHeels)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2005, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-paranoid-about-canned-goods/322145/5 "2005-09-17T21:21:31Z")
I’ve thought about that too but it doesn’t get me as much as the thought of a bug actually being _canned_ . :eek:
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### Author:  [@zelie\_zelerton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zelie_zelerton)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2005, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-paranoid-about-canned-goods/322145/6 "2005-09-17T22:30:56Z")
> [@ChaChaHeels](#):
>
> Want to go halvsies on a food mill?
sure
but it stays at my place
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### Author:  [@JeffyDMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffyDMan)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2005, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-paranoid-about-canned-goods/322145/7 "2005-09-18T15:06:35Z")
Yum, Chef Boyardee Beefaroni.
_burp_
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### Author:  [@Uvula\_Donor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uvula_Donor)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2005, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-paranoid-about-canned-goods/322145/8 "2005-09-18T16:47:54Z")
Have you ever had a Cricket Lickit? It’s a creme de menthe-flavored lollypop with a toasted cricket embedded in the center. Sort of like a tootsie pop, but with the center crunchy instead of chewy. They’re pretty good.
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### Author:  [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2005, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-paranoid-about-canned-goods/322145/9 "2005-09-18T17:01:51Z")
My parents once found a frozen caterpillar in a bag of frozen peas.
(And they didn’t even save it 'till I got home from school, how lame is that!)
But hey - worse things come in a can on purpose. Like [Cuitlacoche](http://www.thesneeze.com/mt-archives/cat_steve_dont_eat_it.php). 😃
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### Author:  [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2005, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-paranoid-about-canned-goods/322145/10 "2005-09-18T17:15:10Z")
What you have to tell yourself is that human beings can pretty much eat anything that isn’t actually toxic (and some things that [are](http://www.rhubarbinfo.com/rhubarb-poison.html) [toxic.](http://www.bio.ilstu.edu/armstrong/syllabi/cassava/cassava.htm)). Many cultures eat bugs willingly and consider them a delicacy. So … trace amounts of bug parts and other stuff (which I won’t detail because it will just gross you out of existence) aren’t going to hurt you as long as the canning process is performed correctly. When food is canned, it is heated long enough to sterilize the contents. I’d worry more about bugs and stuff in _uncanned_ foods.
Still, the best thing to do is not to think about it. Like Dad said, “What you don’t know won’t hurt you.”
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### Author:  [@ryobserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryobserver)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2005, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-paranoid-about-canned-goods/322145/11 "2005-09-18T23:30:57Z")
I once opened a can of peaches (national brand, too, not the store brands I usually buy) and found one of those little white grub things floating on top. I looked for the peach half with the hole bored in it, threw that one out, and ate the rest of the can. I’ve found much uglier creatures in fresh produce, and most of them were still moving; at least a canned insect is not only dead, but sterilized.
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### Author:  [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2005, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-paranoid-about-canned-goods/322145/12 "2005-09-19T00:05:49Z")
A friend’s mom once found a big squishy locust in a can of corn.
She complained to the company, and they sent her…a free entire CASE of corn! As if she’d want any more after that…blecch.
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### Author:  [@ChaChaHeels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChaChaHeels)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2005, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-paranoid-about-canned-goods/322145/13 "2005-09-19T18:46:36Z")
Did she ever eat it? I still have one can of greens beans in the pantry and I have a feeling next time my mom stops over for a visit Ill be slipping it in her purse.
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### Author:  [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2005, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-paranoid-about-canned-goods/322145/14 "2005-09-19T19:14:10Z")
> [@zelie zelerton](#):
>
> sure
>
> but it stays at my place
You get it on Mon, Wed, and Fri, and I’ll get it on Tues, Thurs, and Sat. Sunday will be decided by random number lottery.