So I was listening to Terry Gross on NPR interview this professor who was talking about dung beetles and bugs and stuff. He won't use any kind of insecticide because of fear of side effects, and mentions that most others in his field also like most insects except for maybe cockroaches. He will squash spiders because some bite and he has small children at home. As far as ants and stuff, live and let live. He told a story about traveling with an expert in his field one time out west, and how they had to drive far off the interstate to satisfy this guy's caffeine addiction. Seems the guy was very allergic to cockroaches, and he couldn't drink pre-ground due to the amount of insect parts it contained. He would have a reaction. Seems that they have these huge piles of coffee beans where they grind them and there is no way to keep out the roaches. It took him a while to figure out where he was getting exposed to roaches, but when he started drinking freshly ground coffee he had no problem. In those days there weren't Starbucks store all over the place, and they often had to drive for a considerable distance off the expressway to find a place that had good coffee, freshly ground and free of insect parts. He said the same thing is true of chocolate. Some even think allergies to roaches have a role in causing asthma. I don't know how they avoid the roaches in the whole bean product...
Food for thought, so to speak.
Food for thought, so to speak.