Bugs in produce

[Anonymous]

So, DH made a delicious lentil soup this weekend to eat for lunch for the week. Last ingredient was kale; he was cutting it and putting the pieces in as he went, until he got to the inner leaves and it looked really dirty, so he started to wash it (apparently he had rinsed it once when it was all in a bunch). Anyway, it wasn't dirt, but hundreds of little bugs. So, he threw all the inner leaves out, but had already put a bunch in. He called me, and I said, just make sure it's all cooked and I'm okay with it. But then as I was serving it up for lunch, I had to pick out one bug. Is this too gross to eat (it's a huge waste of effort and $$$ if not, and I am very frugal ? I generally feel that most of our food has insect parts in it, and that's no big deal, but picking bugs out might be a bridge too far. WWYD?

[Anonymous]

Definitely gross. I wash kale really thoroughly - too many places for ick to hide. But I think I would have trashed that bunch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Definitely gross. I wash kale really thoroughly - too many places for ick to hide. But I think I would have trashed that bunch.

Okay, but would you eat the soup? Presumably, only a few got in before he noticed...

[Anonymous]

eh, I'd it eat, but I'm like that - a little dirt never bothered me.

How big are these bugs we're talking about? Did you just notice it because you were looking out for it? Or would you have seen it regardless?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, DH made a delicious lentil soup this weekend to eat for lunch for the week. Last ingredient was kale; he was cutting it and putting the pieces in as he went, until he got to the inner leaves and it looked really dirty, so he started to wash it (apparently he had rinsed it once when it was all in a bunch). Anyway, it wasn't dirt, but hundreds of little bugs. So, he threw all the inner leaves out, but had already put a bunch in. He called me, and I said, just make sure it's all cooked and I'm okay with it. But then as I was serving it up for lunch, I had to pick out one bug. Is this too gross to eat (it's a huge waste of effort and $$$ if not, and I am very frugal ? I generally feel that most of our food has insect parts in it, and that's no big deal, but picking bugs out might be a bridge too far. WWYD?

I always wash my produce very very well. I also wash the pre-washed bagged produce.
I always find surprises.

[Anonymous]

My take is that you are right- bugs are unavoidable in our food, whether we see them or not. I would not eat anything that has had identifiable bugs or parts in the finished product, and I wouldn't serve it, but I wouldn't think someone who does is "wrong." If anything I would be in the wrong for wasting otherwise good food, but I just can't do it. It's like not wanting to eat chicken soup that has the chicken's eyes floating in it. Nothing objectively wrong with it, but it would disgust me and I don't like to be disgusted while I eat.

[Anonymous]

Oops, haha I just realized I didn't make a decision about this before my nanny probably served it to my kid. Oh well. The bugs are tiny, but whole. Like a mm or two. I probably wouldn't have noticed it if he hadn't told me. Or I would have and just picked it out and not thought twice about it. We should just eat it.

[Anonymous]

If the soup reached boiling for at least a minute or two after he added the kale, then I'd just think of it as extra protein. I wouldn't serve it at a dinner party, just b/c other folks might be grossed out, but I'd eat it myself & feed it to my kid.

(Back in the '70s, the Insect Zoo at the Natural History Museum had a book of recipes featuring bugs. I remember there was one for pill-bugs in a garlic-butter sauce.)

[Anonymous]

With most greens, but especially kale, which can be rather dirty/gritty, I usually tear up the leaves and put in a bowl of water to swish around, then drain (you could use a salad spinner too, but if you're cooking kale it usually isn't necessary to get the greens dry). The bugs would drown if you do this.

As for eating the soup, I wouldn't worry about it. What did the bugs look like?

[Anonymous]

I'd eat it.

[Anonymous]

Your food has to reach "Food Defect Action Levels" that have been created by the FDA before the regulator will take action against products with foreign matter. In other words, there is a level of grossness food has to get to before they do anything about it.

Simply put, there has to be a certain amount of bugs or bug parts in your food before it's deemed unsafe, but a little bit is totally fine. For example, manufacturers can't allow more than 225 bug parts in 225 grams of pasta. Any less than 225 parts in that batch is ok for the FDA.

Most of the time, this does not mean these foods are unsafe and in order to be on the list of these foods, the "defects" (what the FDA calls bugs and rodents) have to have been found to cause no health hazards.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/21/bugs-in-food-fda-allows_n_1370288.html

[Anonymous]

If you eat a lot of salads out, you have eaten a lot of bugs. They don't even look at what they are chopping up and a $7.50 an hour few care.

[Anonymous]

I'll be honest. If I knew the bugs were in the soup, I would not be able to eat it. Even knowing I probably eat them without knowing.