While most people see Taylor Swift as almost godly, last weekend during her Eras tour, a miracle happened. She finally performed an act that was somewhat relatable.
While she was onstage, a bug flew into her mouth. Swift exploded into a bout of coughing while telling her fans that she just had a bug fly down her throat. After she stopped coughing, she reassured the crowd that she was uninjured after consuming the “delicious snack.” Taylor handled the situation calmly, only letting a bit of her embarrassment show as she said, “Is there any chance that none of you saw that? It’s fine, it’s all, it’s–I’ve swallowed it.”
Bugs fly into all our mouths. Even the mouths of celebrities.
Most of the time, the bugs we swallow are harmless. Jerome Grant, an etymology professor who teaches at the University of Tennessee, says, “Bugs are everywhere. They’re part of our lives. They’re not going anywhere, and we’re not going anywhere, so we have to learn
to live with them, even if it means swallowing them sometimes.”
Some estimate online claim that we eat several pounds of bugs annually. But, the U.S. Department of Agriculture states on a page about insects for kids, “It’s predicted that you’ll eat as much as 1 pound of insects in your lifetime–by accident, of course.” If we were to ingest one to two pounds of bugs each year, that would add up to around 800 bugs a day. Not even avid bug eaters who consume them intentionally would be able to manage that.
The FDA’s “Food Defect Levels Handbook” shows how all those insects end up in our stomachs. It states that there can be one maggot or five fly eggs per cup of citrus juice. In cornmeal, it is legal to have one entire insect or 25 insect fragments per 50 grams. But in wheat flour, there can be up to 75 insect fragments per half cup.
There is no need to rummage through your cupboard checking your flour for cockroach legs, however, the amounts mentioned above are the absolute limits. Usually, there are not such amounts of insects found in food.
Aside from the ones you eat are the ones you accidentally inhale. This only happens once in a while, according to Dr. Grant, who estimates that he inhaled two or three bugs in the past year. People who spend extensive amounts of time outdoors or around locations that attract insects are likely to inhale more.
So, perhaps we’re not as different from our idols as we thought. We all eat, drink, breathe, and ingest bugs.
While she was onstage, a bug flew into her mouth. Swift exploded into a bout of coughing while telling her fans that she just had a bug fly down her throat. After she stopped coughing, she reassured the crowd that she was uninjured after consuming the “delicious snack.” Taylor handled the situation calmly, only letting a bit of her embarrassment show as she said, “Is there any chance that none of you saw that? It’s fine, it’s all, it’s–I’ve swallowed it.”
Bugs fly into all our mouths. Even the mouths of celebrities.
Most of the time, the bugs we swallow are harmless. Jerome Grant, an etymology professor who teaches at the University of Tennessee, says, “Bugs are everywhere. They’re part of our lives. They’re not going anywhere, and we’re not going anywhere, so we have to learn
to live with them, even if it means swallowing them sometimes.”
Some estimate online claim that we eat several pounds of bugs annually. But, the U.S. Department of Agriculture states on a page about insects for kids, “It’s predicted that you’ll eat as much as 1 pound of insects in your lifetime–by accident, of course.” If we were to ingest one to two pounds of bugs each year, that would add up to around 800 bugs a day. Not even avid bug eaters who consume them intentionally would be able to manage that.
The FDA’s “Food Defect Levels Handbook” shows how all those insects end up in our stomachs. It states that there can be one maggot or five fly eggs per cup of citrus juice. In cornmeal, it is legal to have one entire insect or 25 insect fragments per 50 grams. But in wheat flour, there can be up to 75 insect fragments per half cup.
There is no need to rummage through your cupboard checking your flour for cockroach legs, however, the amounts mentioned above are the absolute limits. Usually, there are not such amounts of insects found in food.
Aside from the ones you eat are the ones you accidentally inhale. This only happens once in a while, according to Dr. Grant, who estimates that he inhaled two or three bugs in the past year. People who spend extensive amounts of time outdoors or around locations that attract insects are likely to inhale more.
So, perhaps we’re not as different from our idols as we thought. We all eat, drink, breathe, and ingest bugs.
