Eating fried bugs could be fatal, Thai Health Dept warns

[arminbkk]

They should do a study to see if eating spicy foods has bad health effects, over the course of a lifetime.

I once read that Thailand has a high rate of colon cancer patients.

Might be related?

In any case, spicy food is not for me, I cannot handle it.

Eating it is punishment for me.

[davejones]

Cannot be worse than some of the food you find on the roads here .... when hygiene doesnt exist.

Street food is generally safer than food in restaurants where hygiene appears to be better. Street food places tend to buy fresh food every day, whereas restaurants tend to buy less often, so the food can become more contaminated. I've never had a problem eating street food in Thailand.

[davejones]

They should do a study to see if eating spicy foods has bad health effects, over the course of a lifetime.

I once read that Thailand has a high rate of colon cancer patients.

Might be related?

In any case, spicy food is not for me, I cannot handle it.

Eating it is punishment for me.

Spices are more likely to offer protection. Colon cancer is usually caused by eating dodgy meat, which Thais seem to eat a lot of, as do Americans - another nation with high colon cancer rates.

[thhMan]

Cant be any worse than BALA...

Just the smell makes me dry retch

[animatic]

Insects Promoted As Protein Source For Thais

Started by webfact, 2013-05-15 14:53

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/639596-insects-promoted-as-protein-source-for-thais/

Eating fried bugs could be fatal, Thai Health Dept warns

Started by webfact, 38 minutes ago

To eat or not to eat, that is the question.

Love this:

" BANGKOK, May 15 – Thailand’s Department of Health is urging Thais to eat insects as a source of chemical-free protein, particularly red ant eggs, which have higher protein than that in hen eggs.

...The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) called on people worldwide to consume insects as they are good sources of nutrition food high in protein and fibre.

Narong Saiwong, deputy director-general of Thailand’s health department, said Thai people have local diets which include insect specialities such as red ant eggs which people in the Northeast prepare in several menus such as soup and spicy salad. "

Health Department warns eating fried bugs might be fatal.

BANGKOK, 16 October 2013 (NNT) – The Director General of the Department of Medical Sciences has disclosed an alarming fact that eating fried insects may cause fatalities due to a chemical substance contained in bugs.

Dr. Aphichat Mongkol, Director General of the Department of Medical Sciences, revealed that a chemical substance called Histamine can be fatal to those who have ingested too much of it.

Histamine is normally found in all sorts of foods; however, more of it can be found in those that are high in protein and food that is unclean.

One hand has no clue what the other hand is doing.

Why is this not surprising.

Edited October 16, 2013 by animatic

[sawadeeken]

Isn't it a well known fact that we all have to die from 'something' ---- ??? Let um eat their bugs if that is what turns their crank.......

[GeorgeO]

So they say it's about the insects themselves containing too much histamine. Then they go on to explain it's to do with bacteria having histamine.

Why does everything I read in the news here set off my BS detector.

"...a warning for the general public to avoid consuming fried insects - especially those who have a history of allergies or asthma".

How do we find out which of the insects have such a history of allergies or asthma...?

[DGIE]

hmmnn. i love eating the silk worm. It is yummy.

Every time I see it sold in the market or by a motorcycle, I can not resist but to buy.

Another thing that I appreciate to eat is the somtum which is NOT a papaya. It is a mango but the thing that make it yummy is the FRESH SEA CRAB. The ones that have soft shell. It has the natural salty taste. so yummy!

My wife and I love to eat it. We ask the seller to put 3 crabs in it. It costs 180 Baht for almost palm size crabs.

[GirlDrinkDrunk]

Cannot be worse than some of the food you find on the roads here .... when hygiene doesnt exist.

agreed. i always require a plate or a bowl. eating of the roads is not cool.

[hellodolly]

So they say it's about the insects themselves containing too much histamine. Then they go on to explain it's to do with bacteria having histamine.

Why does everything I read in the news here set off my BS detector.

Yes - although the report is not total BS .... histamine in food comes from the breakdown of the protein in the food itself and is caused by storing for too long at too high a temperature. Some types of bacteria can also increase the histamine formation so it's one of the factors.

But I think you'd need to eat a lot of insects to have any symptoms - unless you also have an allergic reaction to histamine or have asthma. Normally histamine just gives you a red rash and inflammation. So 50% BS and a bit unnecessary?

Aren't these bugs just eaten as a snack rather than as a main meal?

Histamine from fish is a much bigger risk - eaten is larger amounts and by more people.

Well what you say may well be true. Except for 50% not being BS. In a old country that has eaten insects for 100s of years and now has a population of 66,000,000 million people they have not had one recorded death from it and they want every one to stop eating them.

Sounds like a plea to eat the rice they can't get rid of.

[Soutpeel]

Wait until next week, the report will say that eating these insects is very good for you.

but this will refer to Thai insects only, not the foreign ones they are still bad and one assumes any fatalites in Thailand are from eating foreign insects

[peecee]

Thank you.

Before, I just never had a reason for refusing to eat these bugs....

Unappetizing was my reason!

[slipperylobster]

I wish those food vendors would quit bugging me....

[HerbalEd]

This article is totally bogus. Otherwise thousands of Thais would die every week from eating bugs. Of course ANY food that is contaminated with bacteria can create problems, but that's a different story.

[tominbkk]

I heard they use insecticides to kill the grasshoppers that people are eating. I avoid them.

The future of humankind may be to rely on bug protein. But I don't know about the hygiene of the bugs sold here.

[connda]

And they have been eating bugs in Thailand for how long? And there have been how many confirmed deaths?

This isn't Ripley's amazing world of facts website is it?

I see dead people. They're everywhere. They don't know they're dead.

[HerbalEd]

hmmnn. i love eating the silk worm. It is yummy.

Every time I see it sold in the market or by a motorcycle, I can not resist but to buy.

Another thing that I appreciate to eat is the somtum which is NOT a papaya. It is a mango but the thing that make it yummy is the FRESH SEA CRAB. The ones that have soft shell. It has the natural salty taste. so yummy!

My wife and I love to eat it. We ask the seller to put 3 crabs in it. It costs 180 Baht for almost palm size crabs.

Never had somtum made from mango ... I assume you mean green mango. However, I have hand somtum made from ripe durian. As they say, if you can get past the smell, you've got it licked ... durian, that is.

My wife sometimes grates in carrots and diakon radish with the unripe papaya, which is my favorite.

Edited October 16, 2013 by HerbalEd

[Shaunduhpostman]

"Histamine is normally found in all sorts of foods; however, more of it can be found in those that are high in protein and food that is unclean."

So, the problem isn't bugs with asthma or allergies at all. It's any food that is unclean and/or high in protein.

I guess the Health Department were just trying to get our attention by throwing the part about bugs in there. Brilliant! Got my attention!

[sunshine51]

"Health Department warns eating fried bugs might be fatal"

Now the HD says not to eat bugs after they initially boldly supported Entomophagy (eating bugs).

Well...I'll be dam_ned...I've been eating bugs all over Southeast Asia for over 40 years and I'm still

alive. So I decided to do a little internet research and came up with loads of interesting stuff about

eating bugs but sweet FA concerning death by consuming bugs in accordance with the ingestion

of histamines.

OK...one Thai lad back in 2001 died after eating a poisonous beetle but that's about it.

Here's the link to that story...http://www.thaibugs.com/?page_id=664

Then there were all sorts of websites endorsing the benefits of entomophagy and giving a

list of edible critters too....here's two websites...

http://edibug.wordpress.com/list-of-edible-insects/

http://immortallife.info/articles/entry/entomophagy-explained-why-eatbugs-a-list-of-the-worlds-edible-insects

There's more stuff out there in th ether but for me I'll continue to snack on my favourite bugs with

glee and a cold beer.

As far as I'm concerned about the HD's new warning...

Edited October 16, 2013 by sunshine51

[rametindallas]

And they have been eating bugs in Thailand for how long? And there have been how many confirmed deaths?

This isn't Ripley's amazing world of facts website is it?

Flour Made From Insects Will Feed Underfed Populations

http://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/flour-made-insects-feed-underfed-populations/story?id=20402024

A team of MBA students were the recipients of the 2013 Hult Prize earlier this week, providing them with $1 million in seed money to produce an insect-based, protein-rich flour for feeding malnourished populations in other countries. The product is called Power Flour... team hails from McGill University in Montreal.

"Dr. Aphichat Mongkol, Director General of the Department of Medical Sciences, revealed that a chemical substance called Histamine can be fatal to those who have ingested too much of it.

Histamine is normally found in all sorts of foods; however, more of it can be found in those that are high in protein and food that is unclean."

This publicity seeker has taken a generality and extrapolated it to a specific without specific studies nor any evidence.

"Histamine is an organic nitrogen compound involved in local immune responses as well as regulating physiological function in the gut and acting as a neurotransmitter.^[2] Histamine triggers the inflammatory response. As part of an immune response to foreign pathogens, histamine is produced by basophils and by mast cells found in nearby connective tissues. Histamine increases the permeability of the capillaries to white blood cells and some proteins, to allow them to engage pathogens in the infected tissues" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histamine

Has anyone seen an insect farm? I will tell you they are a lot cleaner than livestock and as clean as any vegetable/fruit farms. Certainly they don't use 'pesticides' on their crops.

If you want to know more about insect farming; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insect_farming

[rametindallas]

So they say it's about the insects themselves containing too much histamine. Then they go on to explain it's to do with bacteria having histamine.

Why does everything I read in the news here set off my BS detector.

Yes - although the report is not total BS .... histamine in food comes from the breakdown of the protein in the food itself and is caused by storing for too long at too high a temperature. Some types of bacteria can also increase the histamine formation so it's one of the factors.

But I think you'd need to eat a lot of insects to have any symptoms - unless you also have an allergic reaction to histamine or have asthma. Normally histamine just gives you a red rash and inflammation. So 50% BS and a bit unnecessary?

Aren't these bugs just eaten as a snack rather than as a main meal?

Histamine from fish is a much bigger risk - eaten is larger amounts and by more people.

There are many areas where the only thing the kids have for food in school, is selfpict insects, and my guess

is that it's not ends in school, they probebly eats it back home too.

So no, they don't eat bugs just as snacks.

These photos from Yasothon 2003. My ex-GF's son was begging for her to pick more of these for him.

[maengda]

What is that black stuff the vendors spray onto the fried insects?

Sent from my GT-I9500 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Suradit69]

So they say it's about the insects themselves containing too much histamine. Then they go on to explain it's to do with bacteria having histamine.

Why does everything I read in the news here set off my BS detector.

Yes - although the report is not total BS .... histamine in food comes from the breakdown of the protein in the food itself and is caused by storing for too long at too high a temperature. Some types of bacteria can also increase the histamine formation so it's one of the factors.

But I think you'd need to eat a lot of insects to have any symptoms - unless you also have an allergic reaction to histamine or have asthma. Normally histamine just gives you a red rash and inflammation. So 50% BS and a bit unnecessary?

Aren't these bugs just eaten as a snack rather than as a main meal?

Histamine from fish is a much bigger risk - eaten is larger amounts and by more people.

There are many areas where the only thing the kids have for food in school, is selfpict insects, and my guess

is that it's not ends in school, they probebly eats it back home too.

So no, they don't eat bugs just as snacks.

You are suggesting that Thai kids in certain areas are suffering malnutrition due to famine or what? This must be a different Thailand to the one I know. Thai kids lack many things but I don't know of anywhere in Thailand where children are starving. Most rural families have a very sound knowledge of what plants, insects and animals are edible and where to get them.

"There are many areas where the only thing the kids have for food in school, is selfpict insects

The BS detectors nearly burn themselves out when the Thai Visa barstool factoid generators are working full force. There's undoubtedly greater issues of hunger in the enlightened west, at least when considered against the resources of those countries, than in Thailand.

Edited October 16, 2013 by Suradit69

[Baloo22]

Well, it's good to read that. Now, I no longer have to use my routine excuse of:

"This is the week I'm supposed to quit eating bugs!"

[ableguy]

A few years back, we had a black lamp insect trap. We would catch a least a kilo every night in the season (record night 3 kilos), my wife would pick out all the bugs we wanted, the rest went into the fish pond. Then we'd trot off to the market and sell to a lady who cooked them - she couldn't get enough as wild bugs are highly sought after. 1kg of bugs would fetch the same value as 1kg of pork.

Later, a large sugar mill was built in the area, and, the locals started to turn the rice paddies over to sugarcane. We now have very few bugs, so few, we don't bother with the lamps anymore. Thinking not much of it at the time and certainly not seeing a connection to the sugarcane, we were visiting some Thai friends who had a successful cricket farm (they sold a large proportion of their product to a factory that canned them for export). I was sad to hear from them that they had been put out of business due to the chemicals used in cane farming, I exclaimed surprise as there was no sugarcane anywhere near their place.

Well I,ll be buggered, how traumatic.

[ableguy]

What is that black stuff the vendors spray onto the fried insects?

Sent from my GT-I9500 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

BS bugshit

[lucjoker]

Dont eat live bugs with more than 10 kilo of histamine !

Eat Mc-Bugs with belgian fries and foam bread ,4 times a day !

[LomSak27]

Thai at heart posted

And they have been eating bugs in Thailand for how long? And there have been how many confirmed deaths?

Confirmed deaths ? Buddy who are you kidding?! There still trying to get autopsy reports on Guest house deaths from years back

confirmed deaths - sure they are dead, as to what caused it, likely we will never know

[lucjoker]

small bugs are eaten by big bugs.

big bugs are eaten by even bigger bugs

and finaly these mastodont bugs (weigh over 5 kilo's) are eaten by

sumo-bugs (recognisable by their funny diapers) .

Dont make sumo-bugs angry by stealing their food !

[laislica]

Eat more rice.

Yes, Eat more Lice!!!

Lice insect?

Oh well

jus tinkin

55555

srry jus cudn't resist