Bugs in produce

[thats_incentive]

Oops. Topic: Bad Lettuce.
Hey everyone.

I've been incorporating more organic fruits and veg into my diet over the last year or so. Two instances which occurred this week have me slightly alarmed.

I'll preface this by saying that from what I can find, it seems that buying organic is (more/less) a scam... not trying to start an argument, just that's what I gather from heated forum and comment section debates. The situation is sketchy at best, but legitimate research is in order. The point is, till then I'm probably going to stop buying organic since it doesn't seem worth it. Feel free to talk if you feel otherwise, but if you can link a supporting study that would be preferred.


Anyway, the exciting part:

Instance 1- I got a bag of organic rainbow carrots (so dank) but to my shock, one was already eaten to the core, which had dried up. There was about 1" section in the middle where a but of the skin and meat was perfectly intact, and gnawed off on the edges. It looked super freaky.

Instance 2- I keep a head or two of green leaf lettuce for about a week at a time for use in salads. Ok so I pulled off a leaf and noticed a dead fruit fly. Sick. Tore off that bit and rinsed the rest. I grabbed another leaf, this time checking closely for critters which I never do. Found a little green aphid thing. Sick. Grabbed another, and another...

Each and every leaf had some various sort of tiny insect on it. They seemed kindof lethargic due to the cold fridge or the insecticides, and would kinda moon walk around. A feisty one jumped onto my bare chest! Sick! Oh yeah I'm 3/4 of the way into this head, and just finished off another that was in the same bag, so lets just say I've been getting some extra protein. Even though I do rinse the lettuce thoroughly each salad.

My questions for you experienced folk- In instance 1, should I toss the whole bag of carrots? That would be a bummer because they're so good, and not always in stock. I disposed of the carrot in question and put the rest in the freeze.

In instance 2- is this normal or do I just have a bad batch? Is it good to rinse and eat? I mean I've been working on this lettuce for a week and I'm better than ever, so...


Thanks guys!

 

[thats_incentive]

Holy smokes guys AND I just found a little green worm/caterpillar curled up in the top of my broccoli!

Should I just stop looking at my produce so closely or what? I'm concerned about consuming the insects because I'm vegan.

 

[TofuRobot]

About the carrots - I'd probably just pick out the bad ones and keep the good ones. Not sure about the lettuce... If I felt like it was infested, I'd probably not eat it, even if it were an irrational decision, because I'm squeamish like that.. We are truly so far removed from the state that our veggies are grown that it freaks us out to see bugs - but most of what we get is washed a bunch of times and we just never see them by the time it gets to us. Have you ever grown lettuce - outside - yourself? I don't, but we had a garden growing up. I'm sure my dad would just wash the buggers off and keep what was left. I also used to grow tomatoes outside - in containers - and they got caterpillars *all* the time. It was a constant battle to keep them off. Bugs live off of plants, too - it's only natural. So it's probably fine just to wash the lettuce that's still good. That's JMO.

As for the other issue (these 2 things seem totally separate to me) - I'm going to stick to buying organic. Scam or not. I do understand organic doesn't mean pesticide-free, but there are strict(er) regulations governing organic farming, and I'd just as soon play it safe. I don't know how true it is, but I've read of people whose urine had high concentration of certain chemicals before switching to all organic foods. I'd rather not take the risk, personally. Perhaps someone else on the forum can shed some more (educated) light on this subject.