This episode is brought to you by the Great Courses Plus. I don’t know if you can see it, it’s moving, there it is! Oh my God, I’m gonna barf. Oh my, I hope there are no bugs in my berries. Well… that’s adorable. Fruit. I love them, and statistically, so do you. But are we getting more than we bargained for when we reach for a sweet berry on a cool day? Are there any hitchhikers, tagging along for the ride? And if so, what does that mean for the people who eat them? Brew! Brew! Grill showed me this video on TikTok that said there are bugs in my fruit! And? And instead of being disgusted like a normal person, my boy here is mourning his “bug buddies”. Little help please? Hmm… Alright, I’ll take the case. Let’s delve into this creeper caper and see what’s really in your produce! But first... Today’s episode will be looking at food, its preparation, and different diets around the world. We’re not here to make any judgements on what you eat, we’re just looking at the subject from an unbiased position. Whether you want to stick to a purely vegan diet or are eating fried chicken by the bucket, all the more power to you. And with that out of the way, Let’s get into it! So, do your strawberries have bugs? Well, not all of them but, yeah. Probably! Whaaaat? No no no, that can’t be, I get mine organic! Right from the farmer’s market! Then they’re more likely to have bugs in them. Huh, well organic’s more expensive right? More bug for your buck! Let me explain. All produce, whether it’s fruits or vegetables, are grown outside in the dirt or hanging from vines or trees - unless you're growing them in a hydroponic garden or buying from a greenhouse. And, you know what else is outside? Bugs! Lots and lots of bugs! Bugs that like to eat and live around plants. Something that anyone who keeps a garden will be more than well aware of. Or, in the words of Greg Loeb, an entomologist - fancy word for “someone who studies insects” - and professor at Cornell University, “If you're eating fresh produce, you're eating bugs,” Generally, farmers use pesticides to manage and deter threats to our food. These pesticides include herbicides to deal with weeds that compete for valuable nutrients and soil, fungicides to eliminate harmful fungi that can destroy entire crops, and insecticides which deal with the dreaded bugs. Since organic food doesn’t really use pesticides, it loses that extra level of “management” of pests. Which means, yeah, bugs. Especially if you’re buying straight from a farmer’s market. But even pesticides aren’t completely infallible - which is why your food has allowances on how many bugs it can contain. Ohhh… it does? It sure does. For example, according to Canadian Food Inspection Agency guidelines, rice cannot have more than 25 insect fragments per 100 grams, commercial-grade apples only have to be free of insect larvae, not insects, and cabbage cannot have more than 10 aphids per head. And they’re not the only ones. The American Food and Drug Association Food Defect Levels Handbook - hoo boy that’s a name - allows less than 5 Drosophila fruit fly or other fly eggs per 250 ml of canned citrus juice, and less than 20 maggots per 100 grams of drained mushroom. Well, simply put, it’s so much work that it’s practically impossible. Or, in the words of the FDA themselves: “it is economically impractical to grow, harvest, or process raw products that are totally free of non-hazardous, naturally occurring, unavoidable defects.” Or, in simple terms, it’s unviable to produce food that’s totally free of dirt and bugs. Especially when that bug can shoot its larvae into your fruit. Like the larvae Buzzfeed writer Krista Torres saw in her now famous video. She says these little white “worms” are most likely to actually be the larvae of the spotted wing drosophila, a species of fruit fly. While other fruit flies lay their eggs in overripe fruit, the spotted wing drosophila lays eggs in ripe, undamaged fruit. We found maggots or flies, so far in raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, elderberries, grapes, chokecherry, and peaches. It’s pretty much spread all the way across the country now. It’s pretty widespread in Indiana. It attacks a number of fruit crops, specifically raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, it’s less of a problem on juneberry and strawberries. Originally we didn’t think this insect was gonna be a very big problem on grapes but in the past few weeks we’ve seen a lot of damage on both table grapes and wine grapes. Then hitches a ride along to your supermarket. Oh that’s so gross. I am so disgusted right now. Ugh. So I just woke up and the first thing I thought about was those frikkin strawberries. It’s not a dream it’s real! But if clock sound was right about there being bugs in my fruit, does that mean soaking them in a salt water bath will actually get them out? Well I did the research and… Maybe? And by “I did the research” I mean, I summoned my Script Goblin to do the research for me. He went out and bought some strawberries and then set up his home studio - Wait, Script Goblin’s got a home studio? Huh! Anyways, bathing the whole package of strawberries across two batches in warm salt water, no bugs or worms were found in any of the berries he tested. That being said, there are two points of error we need to address: One, the salt water bath did loosen a lot of dirt from the strawberries. And two, the strawberries Script Goblin bought were grown in a greenhouse, which means that they would have had less exposure to insects than if they were grown in a field. But, that’s just what we found. Well, were they salty? Not that he noticed, apparently giving them a good rinse after left them tasting just like new. Finding bugs in your produce isn’t exactly new - especially if you’re buying organic. But since this isn’t anything new, there are some suggestions out there on how to properly clean your fruit and vegetables in order to get all those pesky pests out. According to a 2018 Taste of Home guide for washing the “dirty dozen” of produce, it’s best to wash your strawberries in salt water. Specifically, “Dissolve one teaspoon of salt for every cup of warm water and let cool before adding your strawberries. Let them soak for a couple of minutes, then rinse under cool running water.” Eating bugs is an issue for those on a kosher diet, according to the COR, Canada’s largest kosher agency. As described by COR, the Torah states, “All the swarming things that swarm on the ground you shall not eat” in Leviticus 11:42. And according to at least one user from Ask MetaFilter, kosher kitchens use a technique to rid greens of any insectoid stowaways similar to that seen in Tik Tok videos. Grill? “I was instructed to soak lettuce and broccoli [usually the worst ones] in a large volume of lightly-salted water. Dead bugs and dirt were loosened up, live bugs either died or escaped, and after a quick rinse in fresh water, the veggies were clean” So, yes. By all accounts if you’re feeling squeamish about bugs in your produce, a salt bath followed by a rinse with clean water is a good way to get them out. Though, you may not even need the salt. According to Youtuber and Brew Crew favorite Ann Reardon of “How to Cook That”, You don’t need to use salt water, you can just use normal water. Though, if you want to be extra careful, or just like a bit of savoriness with your sweet, feel free to bathe your strawberries in all the salt water you want. But… hear me out, maybe you should just eat the bugs? Wh-wh-what?! Bugs? For food? What are you talking about? According to Brian Nault, PhD and professor of entomology at Cornell University, “There’s no reason to get freaked out about bugs whether they’re alive or dead on your produce… They’re harmless especially when they’re dead.” In fact, not only are they harmless, but Greg Loeb also joked that, "Sometimes we entomologists joke that, hey, it's just a little bit more protein." But there’s a bigger case than just bugs being harmless to consume the creepy crawlies. A report released by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization encouraged the use of insects as food and feed. According to the report, “Insects are a highly nutritious and healthy food source with high fat, protein, vitamin, fibre and mineral content.” Though it also acknowledges that the nutritional value of insects varies from species to species. Oh, I’ve heard of that thing! Yeah, the Edible Insects: Future Prospects for food and feed security. You have? Wait, when? Where? On The Great Courses Plus! I’ve been trying to help Grill around the kitchen, but I also want to make sure my man is eating right, so I thought their series on Food, Science, and the Human Body was the perfect fit. I’ve learned about the paleo diet, the hunter gatherer past of humanity, and even “Insects: The other white meat”! You’re using it too? That’s so… neat! Oh Brew, do you mean the on demand, subscription-based video learning service? Yeah! Of course I did, and I didn’t just stop there - oh no no no! I went out and learned even more. Aside from learning about food and human bodies, I’ve been browsing through some of the 11,000 video lectures featuring experts from places like National Geographic or the Culinary Institute of America! I’ve even started watching their Cooking Basics series so I can get even better at making food! His dishes catch fire less now! Which I’m realizing just now that I’m really conflicted about that for some reason. Or heck, even better. How bout you type down below and recommend me some yourself, so that I can learn things that I wouldn’t necessarily be into? To get started, check out their free trial or head on over to “TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/BREW” and sign up to get some smarts! How bout you hop onto that smarticle train? Destination Intellect. CHOO CHOO! Well then, all this talk about losing one’s train of thought makes me think that this episode’s going off the rails. Let’s get back into it. Some insects, like fireflies and millipedes, are poisonous for you and should not be eaten. Seriously, don’t. But when it comes to edible insects, the UN FAO and New York Times report that around 2 billion people include bugs in their diet, and posit that viewing bugs as “icky” and “gross” is largely unique to Western culture - potentially due to lack of exposure. According to the New York Times, Europe contains only 2 percent of the world’s edible insects. So what bugs are good for you? Well, according to National Geographic, mealworms are a valuable source of protein, vitamins, and minerals found in fish and meat, and grasshoppers rival ground beef in terms of protein, though with less fat per gram. Plus, insects may even be more sustainable than regular forms of meat. There has been no shortage of discussion on the amount of land used for raising livestock. The Smithsonian reported back in 2012 that 26% of the Earth’s land is used for livestock grazing, and that a full third of the World’s arable land is used to grow crops for livestock feed. WIRED later cited that 77% of agricultural land is used to grow feed. And that’s not even getting into water use or methane emissions from cows. The belief is that insects would take up less space than animals, emit less greenhouse gases, have a higher mass to food conversion rate, and they could feed on waste products like human refuse and scraps of food instead of requiring their own crops. That said, there’s a lot we don’t know about how exactly the potential insect food industry might work. Some current concerns include overexploitation of insects in the wild, and that they may not be sustainable as estimates suggest. But, at the end of the day, one thing’s for sure: if you’re eating any kind of produce, you’ve probably eaten insects before. Maybe even in today’s lunch. That’s not a bad thing though. The insects you’re likely to find aren’t going to be any more harmful than the pesticides used to keep insects off. As Ann Reardon put it, “Strawberries grow outside, all berries grow outside on plants, and yes there are bugs and little spiders and dirt, you would expect that to be on your fruit and veggies.” And if that’s uncomfortable for you, then go ahead and wash your fruit and veggies thoroughly. Your diet is your choice, and if you want to make sure it’s bug free, go for it.
