A person died from eating insects.

After eating Ban Mieu caterpillars, two people in Nam Khanh commune, Bac Ha district, Lao Cai province, suffered poisoning, and one died on August 21st.

On August 29th, the Food Safety Department of the Ministry of Health warned of the risk of poisoning from consuming insects, following the death of a victim poisoned by Ban Mieu caterpillars in Lao Cai. Previously, in January, 12 people in Yen Hoa commune, Da Bac district, Hoa Binh province, were poisoned after eating fire bugs. In 2015, five people in Chieng Xom commune, Son La province, were poisoned after eating roasted fire bugs, with three requiring hospitalization.

Insects are becoming a delicacy for many people. (Illustrative image: NP)

The causes of these poisonings are due to eating dead insects that have produced toxins; insects infected with poisonous fungi; insects containing sap from poisonous plants such as the fencepost, the thorny bush, the castor oil plant, etc., or secretions containing toxins that are not destroyed at processing temperatures. Insects containing many foreign proteins can also cause allergic reactions in people with sensitive constitutions.

According to the Food Safety Administration, in Vietnam as well as the world, the practice of using insects as food has existed for a long time, commonly including grasshoppers, locusts, silkworm pupae, crickets, bees, termites, cicada pupae, etc. They are processed into specialty dishes such as fried scorpions, locusts in satay sauce, and stink bugs roasted with lime leaves... However, using insects as food poses many potential health risks.

People poisoned by eating insects often experience symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, tremors, and in severe cases, excessive vomiting, convulsions, dizziness, agitation, difficulty breathing, coma, itching, and rashes all over the body. Severe poisoning can lead to death. The severity of symptoms varies depending on the toxins in the insects, the total amount consumed, and the individual's constitution.

Currently, there are no in-depth, comprehensive studies on the safety of insects in food processing. Therefore, the Department advises people to absolutely avoid using any pupae, larvae, or insects that are unfamiliar, dead, or have unusual shapes or colors. If you want to eat them, choose common, readily available, and fresh pupae, larvae, or insects. People with allergies should be cautious when eating them. In case of poisoning symptoms, people should immediately go to medical facilities for examination and timely treatment.

According to VNE