It’s information that you might not want to withhold, but the truth is that insects spend most of their short lives feeding on decaying organic material, namely poop.
It certainly has happened to you. It’s quiet in a esplanade enjoying a meal on a sunny day and a insect it comes, almost imperceptibly, to your plate and lands on the food. The first instinct is to startle her, the next is to think “should I continue to eat this?”
As a general rule, the risk of getting sick is low, but there are some factors to consider when debating this option. To begin with, it must be recognized that many insects, starting with flies, are disgusting.
And yes, it is true that the flies vomit on food when they land on it, as they don’t have teeth and jaws to chew, describes the IFL Science. As such, the process involves spitting out some enzyme-rich saliva that dissolve partially the food and suck it.
These insects spend most of their short life to feed on decaying organic material, which will include decaying vegetation, raw meatand — how could it be otherwise — of poops. Flies live a dirty lifestyle, which means they carry a host of nasty germs that make the possibility of get sick in case of contact.
What germs are spread?
A literature review managed to identify 130 pathogens in a single fly. Among them, fungi, viruses, parasites and bacteria. Some of which were even “serious species It is life threatening“.
on one 2022 studya team of scientists collected more than 100 houseflies from a farm in New York to discover that they were loaded with a series of pathogens of food origin that affect human health. These included Salmonella, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, and Bacillus subtilis.
The question is whether these pathogens are abundant enough to make a person sick. healthy person. Everything seems to depend on some factorsnamely, how many flies settled on the food and for how long.
If a fly has a brief contact with freshly cooked foods, then most health experts would say this is not a significant reason to throw the food away. However, if a swarm of flies has been relaxing on the plate for hours, then it’s best to use your common sense.
In short, the health risk of a lonely fly making brief contact with fresh food is relatively low, especially if you have a relatively strong immune system. However, the risk is there and this can be higher depending on the situation.
ZAP // 
