Food and the Fear Factor

[viscousmemories]

In another thread, I mentioned the fact that people eat live cockroaches on the TV series Fear Factor. One thing I've always wondered is how they can get away with making these people eat such disgusting things, and how they knew they weren't endangering people. So I summoned the awesome power of Google*, and to my surprise all of the animal parts they serve on the show are USDA-certified!

"All of the gross stunts that involve foods like spleens, reindeer testicles and deer penis – believe it or not – all are USDA-certified for human consumption," says Kunitz, whose show currently features couples competing for $1 million. "We are not going out and serving road kill. We obtain these items from USDA-certified butcher shops."

As for the cockroaches, well:

In essence the bugs used on the show are quite clean.

"The bugs come from laboratories," Kunitz says. "The cockroaches are fed cornmeal, not trash. The Madagascar hissing cockroach is actually one of the cleaner insects out there. It doesn't bite and isn't toxic. Even so, if after a food stunt any contestant says their stomach hurts, we go to the doctor just to be safe."

Nevertheless, they're always learning:

"We have to rely on people to answer truthfully and to know what, if anything, they are allergic to," Kunitz notes. "We have had some minor reactions, and we've also learned that people who are allergic to shellfish also are allergic to cockroaches."

*All quotes from this article (http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/spotlighthealth/2004-01-16-fear-factor_x.htm).

[LadyShea]

I have seen two women on that show that I knew. One I spoke with afterwards, and she said the beetles (she did the bowling for beetles in the first season) didn't taste so bad, but they were still alive when she put them in her mouth and it made her gag. I don't think the prize money is enough for me to eat bugs....USDA approved or not!

[livius drusus]

Does the USDA actually certify the, um, meat or just the butchers? He's a little vague in the quote and there's no elaboration in the rest of the article.

That's a really interesting factoid about people with shellfish allergies being allergic to cockroaches too. What it is it about shellfish that people are allergic to anyway? Something cockroaches have, I suppose.

[LadyShea]

That's a really interesting factoid about people with shellfish allergies being allergic to cockroaches too. What it is it about shellfish that people are allergic to anyway? Something cockroaches have, I suppose.

It would make sense I guess, if it was something in the exoskelton. One of the tests I did for the kidney donation involved being injected with something containing iodine that showed up on an xray, and I was asked several times if I was allergic to shellfish because if so, I would react to the dye. Weird

[viscousmemories]

Does the USDA actually certify the, um, meat or just the butchers? He's a little vague in the quote and there's no elaboration in the rest of the article.
I thought it was pretty clearly implied in the first part of the quote. "all are USDA-certified for human consumption".

I have no idea what relationship there is between shellfish and cockroaches except as LadyShea said maybe the exoskeleton. Too bad we don't have a bug scientist around here. Oh wait, we do!

PZ?

[freemonkey]

From what I understand, certain insects and crustaceans are related. IOW, basically, crabs & lobsters are just big, water-dwelling bugs.

I'll be back after I Google a bit.

[freemonkey]

arthropods (http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/arthropoda/arthropoda.html)
Go ahead, click on the insects link on that page. :D

[dave_a]

From what I understand, certain insects and crustaceans are related. IOW, basically, crabs & lobsters are just big, water-dwelling bugs.

I'll be back after I Google a bit.

Yup, pill bugs are crustaceans. They can be a garden and home pests in great enough numbers and insecticides are useless against them.

Crustaceans are just water (and land) bugs, some of which are tasty. If you think of shrimp, not the kind you eat, but the really small kinds that are found all over the place basically eating up the refuse of other creatures it is easier to view them as bugs.

Shrimp are like aquatic cockroaches. I don't know what an actual cockroach tastes like, but I do like shrimp.

Maggots are actually quite tasty too. They tend to produce projectile diarrhea until you adjust to them, but they are tasty. I ate them once without realizing I was eating them. They were mashed up in a sauce.

[LadyShea]

They tend to produce projectile diarrhea until you adjust to them, but they are tasty.



Um, I don't think that's a very good trade off...nothing is THAT tasty :vomit:

[freemonkey]

Yup, pill bugs are crustaceans. They can be a garden and home pests in great enough numbers and insecticides are useless against them.
AKA wood lice, right? My yard is filthy with those. I think they are feasting on the rotting roots of blackberry vines and other assorted shrubbery. Will they start on my house next?

Maggots are actually quite tasty too. They tend to produce projectile diarrhea until you adjust to them, but they are tasty. I ate them once without realizing I was eating them. They were mashed up in a sauce.
Lovely

[dave_a]

AKA wood lice, right? My yard is filthy with those. I think they are feasting on the rotting roots of blackberry vines and other assorted shrubbery. Will they start on my house next?

Depends. Pill bugs and sow bugs are common names for two different critters. Common names are problematic in that they can cause confusion. Wood lice is another common and somewhat regional name for either pill bugs or sow bugs. They do eat decaying organic matter, but they aren't going to eat your house like termites would because they eat decaying matter, not fresh stuff. If the wood in your house is old and rotting they might eat the rotten wood, but not the good wood.

Maggots are actually quite tasty too. They tend to produce projectile diarrhea until you adjust to them, but they are tasty. I ate them once without realizing I was eating them. They were mashed up in a sauce.
Lovely

No, not lovely, but I am sincere in saying they were quite tasty. My understanding is that maggots are collected, boiled to kill various bad microorganisms and they turn out in a paste like consistency that is not recognizable as maggots. They are then seasoned. As such they are simply a very high protein base for the seasoning and will taste as good or bad as the seasoning used. I am not inclined to go scoop maggots off the dog's poop and eat them, but having unknowingly eaten them and found them very tasty it isn't possible for me to have the "yuck" reaction that is typical of most. I also like hot peppers even though I get burning hot diahhrea from them. It's one of those things where you understand the complications and plan accordingly :D