# Yucky crawlies in my lettuce? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [June 3, 2021, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yucky-crawlies-in-my-lettuce/943563 "2021-06-03T19:38:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2021, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yucky-crawlies-in-my-lettuce/943563/21 "2021-06-05T00:34:27Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I’m sure however that everyone here has consumed countless tiny critters, dead or alive, in part or whole, in the course of eating fresh and preserved produce and other foods at home or in restaurants. Yes, this is very true. Pretty sure government regs even allow x amount of insect parts per y amount of food, it’s unavoidable. I seem to remember reading somewhere especially with figs, so if you loved Fig Newtons as a kid, and I did, you ate a fair amount of insect parts along the way. Good times! I also seem to remember hearing that exoskeleton small critters are generally safer to consume, either by accident or on purpose, than soft-body small critters, for what that’s worth. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2021, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yucky-crawlies-in-my-lettuce/943563/22 "2021-06-05T00:39:06Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I can’t imagine tossing out a head of lettuce because I found a slug on it. How about four slugs? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2021, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yucky-crawlies-in-my-lettuce/943563/23 "2021-06-05T02:34:29Z")
> [@solost](#): > > > [@Jackmannii](#): > > > > I’m sure however that everyone here has consumed countless tiny critters, dead or alive, in part or whole, in the course of eating fresh and preserved produce and other foods at home or in restaurants. > > Yes, this is very true. Pretty sure government regs even allow x amount of insect parts per y amount of food, it’s unavoidable. I seem to remember reading somewhere especially with figs, so if you loved Fig Newtons as a kid, and I did, you ate a fair amount of insect parts along the way. Good times! The tiny fig wasps that pollinate some kinds of figs are dissolved and absorbed by the fig, so you aren’t actually chomping on bugs when you eat Fig Newtons (the crunchy part is seeds). > **[Are There Really Dead Wasps in Your Figs?](https://www.treehugger.com/are-there-really-wasps-your-figs-4868822)** > > Should you eat figs if wasps have died inside of them? Here's everything you need to know about the fig-wasp relationship. If you eat common figs from trees grown in colder climates (like the ones I grow), there’s no need for insect pollination and no fig wasps around. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2021, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yucky-crawlies-in-my-lettuce/943563/24 "2021-06-05T02:37:37Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Wonder how many of those gagging at the thought of a bug or micro-mollusk in their food happily eat raw fish or undercooked meats. Half guilty. I don’t gag at the thought of bugs - I just try to adhere to safe food practices because of rat lungworm. However, I have a long history of consuming raw fish and steak tartare, both of which I like. When I lived in Mozambique, I ate steak tartare. While pregnant. That was before I read a book about anthrax in Africa. Now I can’t believe how stupid I was. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2021, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yucky-crawlies-in-my-lettuce/943563/25 "2021-06-05T04:54:54Z")
That’s why fresh-picked leafy produce needs to be thoroughly washed in SALTY water. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2021, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yucky-crawlies-in-my-lettuce/943563/26 "2021-06-05T04:56:19Z")
Or better/worse yet, half a slug? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2021, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yucky-crawlies-in-my-lettuce/943563/27 "2021-06-05T12:02:19Z")
It’s a little icky, but vermin crawling on produce is a fact of farming. Someone has to wash the vermin off, whether it’s the farmer, the produce worker, or you. If you get a head of lettuce that’s slug-free, that just means it got washed off by someone else, not that slugs never touched it. It seems unnecessary to throw out a head of lettuce because you’re the one that had to wash off the vermin. As for rat lungworm, it looks like the only US places where it has occurred are Hawaii and Louisiana, and it’s extremely rare there. I wouldn’t worry overmuch about it even if I lived in one of those states. I’m not sure how common it is in other nations. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2021, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yucky-crawlies-in-my-lettuce/943563/28 "2021-06-05T14:02:22Z")
You might not want to hang out with [these](https://southeastagnet.com/2018/09/07/florida-giant-african-land-snail/) gals. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2021, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yucky-crawlies-in-my-lettuce/943563/29 "2021-06-05T14:17:01Z")
I’m surprised no one has mentioned the beneficial nutritional aspects of consuming bugs in your produce. I can’t speak to the dietary value of slugs and beetles, but other insects could be helpful menu additions. “Consider that 100 grams of beef contain 29 grams of protein, but also 21 grams of fat. On the other hand, 100 grams of grasshopper contain 20 grams of protein and only 6 grams of fat.” > **[Eating Bugs: Are Edible Insects a Sustainable Food Alternative?](https://www.liveabout.com/edible-insects-as-sustainable-food-alternatives-4153360)** > > No matter how unpalatable the eating of insects might seem, bugs such as silkworms, caterpillars, and crickets just might be the future of food. On the other hand, be aware that the FDA warns people with shellfish allergies not to eat cicadas. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2021, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yucky-crawlies-in-my-lettuce/943563/30 "2021-06-05T19:01:56Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > You might not want to hang out with [these](https://southeastagnet.com/2018/09/07/florida-giant-african-land-snail/) gals. Snails of a more reasonable size are rife in coastal California. I belonged to a model railroad club and after its weekly meeting on Friday evenings we’d repair to a local coffee shop for dessert or a snack. Parking was in the back and between the sidewalk to the front entrance and the building there was a grass strip about as wide as the sidewalk with bushes at the building’s corners. Being about 10pm the strip would have hundreds of snails crawling around, grazing on it. One of our members was an avid gardener and he would detour to walk on the strip, squishing as many snails as he could in one pass. After about six months the snail herd had thinned out considerably. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yucky-crawlies-in-my-lettuce/943563.md?page=1)