Tuesday, July 3, 2007

We eat insects every day

Bread, pasta, and many other foods contain substantial amounts of insects such as mites.

Figs are pollinated by small wasps.

In the 1980s, Nature had an entire episode on tropical figs, showing that many wasps died inside. The producers of Nature were no doubt "encouraged" at the end to have a disclaimer that said "The figs shown in this program are tropical figs and are not the figs grown for human consumption."

Of course this implied that the figs we eat do not have wasps in them.

Ha.

I bought some Fig Newtons, put a little of the filling under the microscope, and lo and behold: wasp parts everywhere.

You can probably see them with a hand lens.

A lie of omission.

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