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Imapeach
Jul 11th, 2006, 05:02 PM
Here's an odd question.

Is there any particular kind of foods that one should be wary of bugs living inside when purchased? For example, I just discovered that a bunch of my (very expensive) organic medjool dates have been used as homes for some hyper-pooping worm critters. Not Happy to say the least and would like to know for future reference if there's any food in particular (I assume fruits, mostly) that really should be checked for tenants before being bought?

I also found a worm in a lychee once. Now I always check them before I make a worm smoothie! :eek:

Roxy
Jul 11th, 2006, 07:17 PM
I had that happen to me not so long ago with a box of dates too! :(

aubergine
Jul 11th, 2006, 08:00 PM
How would you know if the dates had already been chopped up? This has put me right off my muesli :(

Imapeach
Jul 11th, 2006, 08:11 PM
Even if they're chopped up, you might be able to see the bits of poo on the inside part of the date. At first I thought it was just bits of the date that had dried up on the inside, seeing as it was the same colour as the rest of the date... kinda like "date dandruff". But the reason why it was the same colour was because it was pooped out date! And of course, living on nothing but dates, the critters will get the proverbial sh*ts and make a BIG mess.

don't mean to be a scare monger here... it's never happened to me before with dates :confused:

Juice
Jul 11th, 2006, 08:24 PM
I've opened a box of raisins with worms once.

cedarblue
Jul 11th, 2006, 08:55 PM
i'm fast going off dried fruits...:(

Haniska
Jul 11th, 2006, 09:16 PM
I bought a bunch of organic kale one time that was just COVERED with little grey dying/cold? bugs. Looked like something that would eat other bugs that would eat the plants. I assume.

Pob
Jul 11th, 2006, 09:27 PM
Not much you can do about it with some foods, there are always going to be levels of insects and droppings, rodents and fur and droppings, and rot and mould in mass produced foods.

There are maximum levels that are permitted for those sorts of contaminants in the US. Paprika was allowed high levels of insect in it I believe.

Jamie
Jul 11th, 2006, 09:50 PM
you know what, if I accidently ate a bug without worrying about it, I might not worry too much about not being vegan. It's just an accident on both parts. Wormy didn't mean to be eaten, and I didn't mean to eat a worm. I would just hope it was a veggie worm, but even if not, hopefully it's small enough not to cause me any problems.

Although the only time I've had anything like that happen (that I know of!!) was in a salad in an airline meal... I had some leaves on a fork about to pop in my mouth when I noticed a little petrified bug frozen onto a stalk. I felt sorry for the poor bugger :(

RedWellies
Jul 11th, 2006, 10:01 PM
Some figs have a dead tiny wasp inside. I've stopped eating figs, not because I might eat the wasp (it's rotted away by then anyway) but because some farmers exploit the wasps. See here....

http://waynesword.palomar.edu/pljune99.htm

I think there's a thread about this somewhere.

Nadine
Jul 11th, 2006, 10:50 PM
I've found bugs in dates before too- a few times! On the plus side at least it means the food hasn't been saturated with pesticide making it inedible for other creatures! Maybe cause I grow organic stuff on my allotment (and get used to carefully picking off insects); I find it odd when I buy organic fruit & veg that shows no evidence of bugs!

veggiegirl3
Jul 12th, 2006, 12:25 AM
One time, I had a tun of raisins in the cupboard. It seemed to grow bugs!! :( After that, I started refridgerating dried fruit and it hasn't ever happened again. Maybe it's safer that way.

Juice
Jul 12th, 2006, 12:33 AM
How do raisins buried in a cabinet get worms anyway? It's not like the worms crawled from my backyard, through the kitchen, up the wall, and into the cabinet. So they're in the box to begin with somehow? Their eggs, perhaps?

claireyveg
Jul 12th, 2006, 01:36 AM
I once saw this program on the discovery channel and i meant to comment on it a while ago and it was about weird foods eaten all over the world blah blah... anyways at the end it said basically all people consume insects on a daily basis, and that food that is sold legally or whatever is allowed to have below a certain number of rodent hairs, insect eggs... it really stressed me out for a while

Jamie
Jul 12th, 2006, 10:25 AM
urgh yeah some guy who I vaugely knew once told me that he worked in a flour mill in South America or something (??) and that there were so many cockroaches and stuff about on the floor that got into the grains and ended up ground up in the flour and that was why they had to bleach it white, to hide the bug blood, or something like that.... it was actually his arguament for 'not getting' vegans and vegetarians!! Oh yeah, so out of our control we've got crushed up roaches in our flour, oh so we might as well just eat every other meat going cause of that then!! :rolleyes: :(

But I'm sure he said it was SA, so maybe with a bit of hope the flour we buy over here might be better. I buy wholemeal flour and I haven't seen anything unusual looking in there, just powder and bran...!

I know it's disgusting about rat hairs and things though.... it is totally offputting and you may never want to eat anything again... the way I cope with it (although I haven't seen that program, wouldn't watch it for fear of never eating again!) is I think, rats aren't that bad - they are lovely. And at least they only have such tiny little short hairs, that we could eat it and not even realise. And they probably only shed it off, so it's not hurting thing. It's whole rats in food that I would be really concerned about!! :) Bugs in food is gross though :( I suppose again though it's probably small and accidental.

I'm really new to buying organic food and ATM it's basically supermarket and always packaged, but I know when we move abroad and I will search out farmers markets that I'd have to give everything a good wash when I get home. Has anyone used those commercial fruit & veg washes that are around?? Are they any good??

Haniska
Jul 12th, 2006, 05:59 PM
There are also these little bugs called "Weebles" that lay their eggs in flour and will eventually hatch if you keep the flour too long. And yes, the whole "how did the fruit flies get in my house?" question does not have a pleasant answer. I figure the reason the ones in the fridge didn't get them is because they couldn't hatch. There is nothing to be done about it. Or, maybe you can buy foods that were heavily covered in pesticides :( WHen I lived in WV, for some reason moths would be in the flour and they would hatch out in the grocery store. I guess they made their cocoons in it? They would be floundering around on the floor and my grandmother would step on them? I asked her why and she didn't have an answer.

sandra
Jul 12th, 2006, 06:15 PM
Yes, Haniska, I've come across these wee 'Weebles' before, I found some in flour I had one time, they were crawling about, I contacted the company and they had the cheek to tell me it was because I didn't clean my cupboards out! I am very careful when it comes to washing my cupboards out! I had a suspicion they had something to do with the flour though. I didn't know what to do with them so I emptied the flour in the back garden hoping they could survive out there, I didn't have the heart to throw them in the bin, they were walking around!

Haniska
Jul 12th, 2006, 06:21 PM
OMG! They told you it was your fault?? The HORS!

sandra
Jul 12th, 2006, 06:25 PM
Yes, cheek of them, they made me feel really inadequate! I'm so glad you've come across these wee critters as I was beginning to think it was my fault, like I was setting up some kind of wee breeding farm for them! :)

Cherry
Jul 12th, 2006, 06:56 PM
How do raisins buried in a cabinet get worms anyway? It's not like the worms crawled from my backyard, through the kitchen, up the wall, and into the cabinet. So they're in the box to begin with somehow? Their eggs, perhaps?

Lol Juice. Yeh the eggs are in the food, which then hatch a while later in your cupboard. They're not real 'worms', they're the larvae of insects.


There are also these little bugs called "Weebles" that lay their eggs in flour and will eventually hatch if you keep the flour too long.

Weebles!??? :D You mean Weevils? Weevils are little tiny beetles.
Aren't these (http://www.feelingretro.com/view_toy.cfm?id=81)weebles?!:D

Juice
Jul 12th, 2006, 06:57 PM
Thanks, Cherry. :) I'm glad worms haven't developed super powers to walk through sealed items and levitate.

Cherry
Jul 12th, 2006, 07:01 PM
hehe :D no, not quite ;)

sandra
Jul 12th, 2006, 07:07 PM
Cherry, I'm as bad as Haniska, I was calling them 'weebles' I will really have to stop drinking so much wine, that's my excuse anyway!

Cherry
Jul 12th, 2006, 07:21 PM
Lol. Weevils are cute. Weeble kind of suits them ;)

I like their long 'noses' :) (http://www.doc.govt.nz/whats-new/presult.asp?prID=2168)

Tigerlily
Jul 12th, 2006, 07:51 PM
I find a lot of local produce has bugs, compared to pre-packaged, pre-washed stuff that comes from a million miles away. :p

Lettuces, spinach, other leafy greens, broccoli, etc, seem to have a lot of bugs in them. I found a live lady bug in a pint of strawberries once. I realeased her/him outside. :)