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Tag: Bugs

  • ‘I’m sifting everything from now on’: California woman starts making Betty Crocker brownies. Then she sees something moving

    A California woman’s baking session turned from sweet to sickening when she discovered something alive in her brownie mix. Safe to say, she probably didn’t end up finishing the baking process.

    Woman Finds Maggot in Brownie Mix

    In a viral video with more than 65,000 views, content creator Jay (@justenejanik) captures the disturbing moment she realizes what was in her Betty Crocker brownie mix. The video shows what appears to be a maggot covered in brownie powder, clearly moving around in the sifter.

    “Bro, it’s like a maggot or something,” someone says in the video as they film the unwelcome discovery.

    “We decided to make some brownies today and after sifting why did we find THIS???? Be careful when using @Betty Crocker mix yall,” she said in the caption.

    The fact that she was sifting the mix (a step many home bakers skip) saved her from baking the contaminated ingredients into her brownies. Had she simply dumped the mix into a bowl as the package instructions suggest, the maggot likely would have ended up in the finished product.

    Why You Should Sift

    Jay’s experience serves as an unexpected argument for the extra step of sifting dry baking ingredients. Even when using pre-mixed products. While sifting is traditionally done to break up clumps and aerate flour for lighter baked goods, it apparently has the added benefit of catching unwanted protein sources before they end up in your dessert.

    Are Maggots Safe to Eat?

    Maggots are fly larvae that are often found around contaminated food. While most foods with maggots aren’t safe to eat, the bigger concern is what the larvae have been exposed to, Healthline reported.

    Healthline explains that houseflies commonly use animal and human feces as breeding sites. This is as well as garbage and rotting organic material. This means maggots can carry harmful bacteria like Salmonella enteritidis and E. coli. If consumed, these bacteria can cause fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, cramping, and fatigue.

    The good news, according to Healthline, is that cooking typically kills both maggots and any bacteria they carry. However, the publication notes that eating maggot-infested food raw or discovering contamination after the fact can lead to bacterial poisoning or even myiasis, an infection where maggots infest living tissue in the gastrointestinal tract.

    For packaged dry goods like brownie mix, contamination typically occurs either during the manufacturing process. Or due to improper storage conditions that allow pests to access the product. Healthline recommends keeping food storage areas clean and dry, and inspecting packages for any signs of damage or pest activity before use.

    FDA Allows Insect Parts in Food—But Has Limits

    While Jay’s maggot discovery is understandably disturbing, it may be surprising to learn that some level of insect contamination is actually legally allowed in processed foods. According to CBS News, the FDA permits what it calls “food defects”—the unavoidable byproduct of growing and harvesting food.

    “It is economically impractical to grow, harvest, or process raw products that are totally free of non-hazardous, naturally occurring, unavoidable defects,” CBS News reports.

    For example, CBS News notes that chocolate can contain 30 or more insect parts per bar, coffee beans are allowed an average of 10 milligrams of animal excrement per pound, and tomato sauce can legally contain about two maggots per 16-ounce can. Canned mushrooms can have an average of 20 or more maggots per four-ounce can.

    Food safety specialist Ben Chapman told CBS News that manufacturers have quality assurance employees constantly testing samples to ensure they stay below FDA thresholds. When contamination levels are too high, the food can be sent to “rework” processes. For example, boiling cranberries to skim insect parts off the top before canning.

    Chapman emphasized to CBS News that while insect parts have a high “yuck factor,” they pose a low health risk. 

    “Insect parts are gross, but they don’t lead to foodborne illnesses,” he explained. 

    The real dangers are foodborne illnesses like salmonella, listeria, and E. coli, which contribute to more than 48 million cases of foodborne illness annually in the United States.

    @justenejanik we decided to make some brownies today and after sifting why did we find THIS???? Be careful when using @Betty Crocker mix yall #brownies #baking #bettycrocker ♬ original sound – jay

    Viewers are disgusted

    “Idk but i wouldn’t have even noticed would’ve baked that bug right up and ate it with a side of milk,” a top comment read.

    “You know whaaatttt, I’m sifting everything from now on lol,” a person said.

    “NO BECAUSE I WAS JUST ABOUT TO MAKE THIS EXACT BOX. okay now i have to sift, “another wrote.

    The Mary Sue reached out to Jay for comment via TikTok direct message and comment. We also reached out to Betty Crocker via email.

    Have a tip we should know? [email protected]

    Image of Stacy Fernandez

    Stacy Fernandez

    Stacy Fernández is a freelance writer, project manager, and communications specialist. She’s worked at the Texas Tribune, the Dallas Morning News, and run social for the Education Trust New York.

    Stacy Fernandez

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  • Google Has a Bedbug Infestation in Its New York Offices

    Google employees working at the company’s Chelsea campus in New York City received a notice on Sunday alerting them to a possible bedbug outbreak at the office. Exterminators arrived at the scene with a sniffer dog “and found credible evidence of their presence,” according to an email obtained by WIRED. The email was sent to all Google employees in New York on behalf of the company’s environmental, health, and safety team.

    Employees were told to avoid the office until the treatment was complete. On Monday morning, they were allowed to return. Google is performing additional inspections at other Google campuses in New York, including buildings at the company’s Hudson Square campus, “out of an abundance of caution,” the email says.

    The company advised employees to submit a report “if you experience symptoms you believe are linked to possible bedbug exposure.” Additionally, “if you suspect you’ve seen a bedbug onsite,” employees were told to report the sighting to the facilities team. Employees were also told to contact professional exterminators if they found bedbugs in their home.

    Sources tell WIRED that Google’s offices in New York are home to a number of large stuffed animals that are rumored to be implicated in the outbreak. WIRED was not able to verify this information prior to publication. Google declined to comment.

    This is not the first time a Google office in New York has been infested with bedbugs. In 2010, the company’s 9th Avenue offices in Manhattan experienced an outbreak amid a wider bedbug infestation in New York.

    Zoë Schiffer

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  • Mob of invasive spotted lanternflies appear on DC area’s weather radar – WTOP News

    Thursday’s weather radar featured what experts believe to be a mass of spotted lanternflies, an invasive species, moving around the D.C. area.

    Since crossing into Maryland in 2018, the spotted lanternfly has increasingly left it’s sticky mark across the D.C. area, damaging plants and pestering residents.

    The invasive species’ latest show of force painted the weather radar Thursday.

    “It’s going to be partly cloudy, with a chance of lanternflies here in the DMV,” said Michael Raupp, professor emeritus at the University of Maryland and the self-proclaimed “Bug Guy.”

    Thursday’s radar featured what experts believe to be a mass of spotted lanternflies moving about as they were picked up by wind currents.

    Raupp, an expert in entomology, the study of insects, said it’s mostly female lanternflies on the move.

    “We have females in particular moving about the landscape, trying to find the perfect host plant rich in nutrients so they can feed and develop their eggs,” Raupp said.

    The Washington Post was the first to report on the buggy radar.

    Anything of the right size in the atmosphere could pop up on the radar.

    “We typically don’t see these kind of things, but definitely not unheard of, just a little uncommon,” 7News First Alert Meteorologist Mark Peña said of the lanternflies’ appearance.

    Peña said the weather radar works by sending out a signal from a site at Dulles International Airport.

    “These pulses of information go out, and they’ll reflect back anything that’s in the sky,” Peña said. “So for us, it’s usually used for rain and snow, but at certain levels of the atmosphere, it can also pick up bugs and butterflies, birds have even shown up.”

    It’s a matter of process of elimination to figure out the origin of unexpected images.

    “We knew that there was no rain falling, it just ended up being deduced down to some kind of bug,” Peña said. “And we all know that the lanternflies are all over the place now.”

    In the D.C. area, cicadas have also made an appearance on the radar. Peña said in his home state of Texas, he’s spotted migrating monarchs and bats.

    “There’s big bat colonies in Texas, and every summer, whenever they go out at night, you’ll see these big explosions out of these caves,” he said.

    Are spotted lanternflies in the DC area’s extended forecast?

    Though a mob of invasive bugs might be annoying, Raupp said they don’t pose a direct danger to people. They don’t bite or sting.

    “In a residential landscape, the biggest concern I have is the vast amount of the honeydew they excrete. This carbohydrate-rich liquid will fall down on plants below, discoloring them,” Raupp said. “A nasty fungus called ‘sooty mold’ will blacken those plants and actually may harm those plants.”

    That honeydew can attract instincts that sting, including yellow jackets, paper wasps, hornets and honeybees.

    “This creates a health hazard for people and their pets,” Raupp said.

    The population of lanternflies may be at its peak in the D.C. region, but predators and parasitoids are beginning to push back on lanternfly populations.

    “Mother Nature’s hit squad will ramp up a little bit and hopefully put a beatdown on these spotted lanternflies,” Raupp said.

    Raupp said populations are declining in some areas.

    “We’re going to have to wait this one out, but eventually those populations, we expect they will collapse,” he said. “And we’ll be back to perhaps a more normal state of affairs with spotted lanternflies.”

    The spotted lanternfly is expected to continue to move south and westward, as it has since the invasive species first appeared in the U.S. in Pennsylvania about a decade ago.

    “You can stomp on lanternflies if it makes you happy, it’s a form of retribution, but don’t do this with a mistaken belief that you’re going to affect the population dynamics,” Raupp said.

    Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.

    © 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

    Jessica Kronzer

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  • Unbelievable facts

    Unbelievable facts

    Cicadas’ jet-stream urine sprays intruders.

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  • Would you eat a cicada salad? The monstrous little noisemakers descend on a New Orleans menu

    Would you eat a cicada salad? The monstrous little noisemakers descend on a New Orleans menu

    Would you eat a cicada salad? The monstrous little noisemakers descend on a New Orleans menu

    As the nation prepares for trillions of red-eyed bugs known as periodical cicadas to emerge, it’s worth noting that they’re not just annoying, noisy pests — if prepared properly, they can also be tasty to eat. Blocks away from such French Quarter fine-dining stalwarts as Antoine’s and Brennan’s, the Audubon Insectarium in New Orleans has long served up an array of alternative, insect-based treats at its “Bug Appetit” cafe overlooking the Mississippi River. “Cinnamon Bug Crunch,” chili-fried waxworms, and crispy, cajun-spiced crickets are among the menu items.Video above: Get a look at some of the menu items and hear from the “bug chef.”Periodical cicadas stay buried for years, until they surface and take over a landscape. Depending on the variety, the emergence happens every 13 or 17 years. This year two groups are expected to emerge soon, averaging around 1 million per acre over hundreds of millions of acres across parts of 16 states in the Midwest and South.They emerge when the ground warms to 64 degrees, which is happening earlier than it used to because of climate change, entomologists said. The bugs are brown at first but darken as they mature.Recently, Zack Lemann, the Insectarium’s curator of animal collections, has been working up cicada dishes that may become part of the menu. He donned a chef’s smock this week to show a couple of them off, including a green salad with apple, almonds, blueberry vinaigrette — and roasted cicadas. Fried cicada nymphs were dressed on top with a warm mixture of creole mustard and soy sauce.”I do dragonflies in a similar manner,” Lemann said as he used tweezers to plop nymphs into a container of flour before cooking them in hot oil. Depending on the type and the way they are prepared, cooked cicadas taste similar to toasted seeds or nuts. The Insectarium isn’t the first to promote the idea of eating them. Over the years, they have appeared on a smattering of menus and in cookbooks, including titles like “Cicada-Licious” from the University of Maryland in 2004.”Every culture has things that they love to eat and, maybe, things that are taboo or things that people just sort of, wrinkle their nose and frown their brow at,” Lemann said. “And there’s no reason to do that with insects when you look at the nutritional value, their quality on the plate, how they taste, the environmental benefits of harvesting insects instead of dealing with livestock.”Lemann has been working to make sure the Bug Appetit cafe has legal clearance to serve wild-caught cicadas while he works on lining up sources for the bugs. He expects this spring’s unusual emergence of two huge broods of cicadas to heighten interest in insects in general, and in the Insectarium — even though the affected area doesn’t include southeast Louisiana.”I can’t imagine, given the fact that periodical cicadas are national news, that we won’t have guests both local and from outside New Orleans, asking us about that,” said Lemann. “Which is another reason I hope to have enough to serve it at least a few times to people.”

    NEW ORLEANS —

    As the nation prepares for trillions of red-eyed bugs known as periodical cicadas to emerge, it’s worth noting that they’re not just annoying, noisy pests — if prepared properly, they can also be tasty to eat.

    Blocks away from such French Quarter fine-dining stalwarts as Antoine’s and Brennan’s, the Audubon Insectarium in New Orleans has long served up an array of alternative, insect-based treats at its “Bug Appetit” cafe overlooking the Mississippi River. “Cinnamon Bug Crunch,” chili-fried waxworms, and crispy, cajun-spiced crickets are among the menu items.

    Video above: Get a look at some of the menu items and hear from the “bug chef.”

    Periodical cicadas stay buried for years, until they surface and take over a landscape. Depending on the variety, the emergence happens every 13 or 17 years. This year two groups are expected to emerge soon, averaging around 1 million per acre over hundreds of millions of acres across parts of 16 states in the Midwest and South.

    They emerge when the ground warms to 64 degrees, which is happening earlier than it used to because of climate change, entomologists said. The bugs are brown at first but darken as they mature.

    Recently, Zack Lemann, the Insectarium’s curator of animal collections, has been working up cicada dishes that may become part of the menu. He donned a chef’s smock this week to show a couple of them off, including a green salad with apple, almonds, blueberry vinaigrette — and roasted cicadas. Fried cicada nymphs were dressed on top with a warm mixture of creole mustard and soy sauce.

    “I do dragonflies in a similar manner,” Lemann said as he used tweezers to plop nymphs into a container of flour before cooking them in hot oil.

    Depending on the type and the way they are prepared, cooked cicadas taste similar to toasted seeds or nuts. The Insectarium isn’t the first to promote the idea of eating them. Over the years, they have appeared on a smattering of menus and in cookbooks, including titles like “Cicada-Licious” from the University of Maryland in 2004.

    “Every culture has things that they love to eat and, maybe, things that are taboo or things that people just sort of, wrinkle their nose and frown their brow at,” Lemann said. “And there’s no reason to do that with insects when you look at the nutritional value, their quality on the plate, how they taste, the environmental benefits of harvesting insects instead of dealing with livestock.”

    Lemann has been working to make sure the Bug Appetit cafe has legal clearance to serve wild-caught cicadas while he works on lining up sources for the bugs. He expects this spring’s unusual emergence of two huge broods of cicadas to heighten interest in insects in general, and in the Insectarium — even though the affected area doesn’t include southeast Louisiana.

    “I can’t imagine, given the fact that periodical cicadas are national news, that we won’t have guests both local and from outside New Orleans, asking us about that,” said Lemann. “Which is another reason I hope to have enough to serve it at least a few times to people.”

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  • A Leap Year Glitch Broke Self-Pay Gas Station Pumps Across New Zealand

    A Leap Year Glitch Broke Self-Pay Gas Station Pumps Across New Zealand

    Yesterday was Leap Day, meaning that for the first time in four years, it was February 29. That’s normally a quirky, astronomical factoid (or a very special birthday for some). But that unique calendar date broke gas station payment systems across New Zealand for much of the day.

    As reported by numerous international outlets, self-serve pumps in New Zealand were unable to accept card payments due to a problem with the gas pumps’ payment processing software. The New Zealand Herald reported that the outage lasted “more than 10 hours.” This effectively shuttered some gas stations, while others had to rely on in-store payments. The outage affected suppliers including Allied Petroleum, BP, Gull, Waitomo, and Z Energy. It has now reportedly been fixed.

    In-house payment solutions, such as BP fuel cards and the Waitomo app, reportedly still worked during the outage.

    As noted by Bloomberg, New Zealand is one of the first countries to experience February 29 quadrennially because of its location. The gas pump breakdown sent stakeholders into a frenzy as they tried to resolve the problem caused by software being unequipped to process the bonus day.

    John Scott, the CEO of Invenco Group, the provider of the self-payment terminals that malfunctioned, confirmed to Reuters that a “leap year glitch” caused the problem. Scott said the problem only affected New Zealand code. Invenco is investigating for more information about what caused the glitch.

    Scott also told The New Zealand Herald that Invenco worked with Worldline as it rolled out the fix. France-headquartered Worldline makes software for processing card payments. Worldline claimed that all non-Invenco terminals using its technology continued to work during the outage, per the Otago Daily Times.

    The outage highlights how extensive people’s reliance on technology has become and how an error based on something as trivial as a calendar date can upturn entire businesses and disrupt people’s day. While some gas stations were still able to accept other forms of payments, those that relied on the broken terminals found themselves missing out on business. RNZ reported speaking to someone who was declined service by four gas stations due to the outage.

    An out-of-order fuel pump at a station in Wellington, New Zealand, on February 29, 2024.Photographer: Mark Coote/Bloomberg/Getty Images

    As the companies involved work to issue apologies—and, in some cases, discounts—to make up for the inconvenience, there’s hope that the scale and embarrassment associated with the outage will help prevent similar events.

    A representative for Allied Petroleum, when prompted via Facebook to “maybe remember Leap Day in four years’ time,” responded: “We’ll add it to our Outlook reminders 😕”.

    This story originally appeared on Ars Technica.

    Scharon Harding, Ars Technica

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  • NYC nears top of the list for worst bed bug cities — but once city was worse (again)

    NYC nears top of the list for worst bed bug cities — but once city was worse (again)

    Here’s a story that’ll make your skin crawl if you live or spend time in New York City, thanks to a recent list that no city wants to be near the top of.

    For the second straight year, the five boroughs were ranked the second-worst city in the U.S. for bed bugs, pest control services company Orkin found in its annual “Top 50 Bed Bug Cities” list.

    The list is based on the number of infestations the company has treated in each city, which includes homes and businesses, from Dec. 2022 through Nov. 2023.

    At least the Big Apple was not the worst city — that unenviable position goes to Chicago for the fourth year in a row, Orkin found. In fact, the top six cities on the list (Chicago, NYC, Philadelphia, Cleveland-Akron, Los Angeles and Detroit) finished in the exact same spots as last year.

    It was not a great year for North Carolina when it came to bed bugs. Charlotte made the biggest jump of all cities in the top 10, climbing five spots to be ranked ninth. Greensboro was the biggest climber of all cities, jumping 25 spots on the list, according to Orkin.

    As for cities heading in the right direction, San Francisco and Buffalo dropped 19 and 13 spots, respectively, as both barely made the top 50.

    Bed bugs continue to be a constant worry for travelers since Paris was flooded with bed bug infestations in late 2023, but the issue is also present on this side of the Atlantic.

    Here’s the rest of the top 10:

    1. Chicago
    2. New York 
    3. Philadelphia 
    4. Cleveland-Akron, OH 
    5. Los Angeles 
    6. Detroit 
    7. Washington, D.C. (+2)
    8. Indianapolis (-1)
    9. Charlotte (+5)
    10. Champaign, IL (+1)

    What Are Bed Bugs?

    According to Orkin, bed bugs are less than a quarter-inch long and red-to-dark in coloring. They are mostly nocturnal and come out from their hiding spots to bite sleeping humans or other animals for their meals. Orkin said the pests are hematophagous, which means blood is their only food source.

    “Bed bugs are extremely resilient, making them difficult to control. As people begin to ramp up their travel plans this year, it’s important they know how to protect themselves through pest identification and proper control,” said Ben Hottel, Orkin entomologist. “Contrary to popular belief, bed bugs are visible to the naked eye, but are excellent at hiding. Involving a trained professional at the sight of a bed bug introduction is recommended.”

    How Easily Can They Spread?

    The bugs can easily travel from place to place, clinging to items such as luggage, purses and other personal belongings. They also multiple quickly and can survive a long time without eating, according to Orkin.

    Females can deposit one to five eggs a day and may lay 200 to 500 eggs in their lifetime. They can survive for several months while waiting for their next blood meal, so they’re likely to emerge when a food source, e.g., humans or animals, become available, Orkin stated.

    “While it’s important to be aware of bed bug infestations within hotels, practicing precautions in other aspects of travel are also important. Taxis, buses and airplanes are also common bed bug hiding places, allowing these pests an opportunity to hitch a ride with unsuspecting travelers. Examining clothing and luggage regularly while traveling can help to catch a bed bug infestation in the early stages,” said Hottel.

    In addition to being present in the sheets of a bed, bed bugs can also live in bedside table drawers and electrical outlets in walls, but fortunately, there are ways to detect them and to keep them from traveling home with you.

    How do I check for bed bugs when I’m traveling?

    Exterminators encourage use of the acronym S.L.E.E.P. when inspecting for bugs while you travel and when you return home:

    • Survey the room you’re staying in for any sign of bed bugs. You can do this by watching for small red stains on sheets, mattresses, furniture throughout the room or on walls.
    • Lift mattresses, furniture and pictures to make sure there are no bed bugs in hidden spots in the room.
    • Elevate your belongings away from the bed and walls. You can do this by using an ironing board, countertops or tables.
    • Examine your luggage when you arrive at your destination, when you’re repacking and when you return to your home.
    • Place all clothing from your trip in your dryer for between 30 to 45 minutes at the highest temperature setting.

    For more information about bed bug prevention and bed bug control, visit EPA.gov.

    Kiersten Riedford of NBC Chicago contributed to this report.

    Tom Shea

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  • Pest Control Company Paying $2500 to Put Roaches In Your Home | Entrepreneur

    Pest Control Company Paying $2500 to Put Roaches In Your Home | Entrepreneur

    How much would it take to let hundreds of bugs roam around your home for a month?

    A North Carolina-based pest control resource company, The Pest Informer, is looking for a household that will let them release 100 American cockroaches inside to test the effectiveness of a pest control technique.

    In return for your participation, the company is offering to pay one homeowner $2,500.

    RELATED: NYC Exterminators’ New Weapon Has Eliminated Nearly 100% of Rats From Over 100 Burrows — and They Already Have Their Next Targets Mapped Out

    While The Pest Informer didn’t give additional details about the specific cockroach treatment they would be trying for the experiment, the company assured candidates that the treatment used would be family and pet-safe.

    However, the company said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency questioned the environmental impact of the study, which is why they are choosing to conduct the study in one household at a time.

    The experiment will be conducted over 30 days, and if the roaches aren’t eliminated by the end of the study The Pest Informer said it would then implement traditional roach removal practices at no charge.

    RELATED: ‘I Wanted To Cry’: Woman Finds Roach Inside Chicken Tender Prompting Investigation of Florida Restaurant

    During the 30 days, participants must not use any other cockroach treatments.

    U.S. residents who wish to be considered must fill out an online application by December 31, according to USA Today, and can expect to hear back in early 2024.

    Sam Silverman

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  • Exploiting The Lightning Bug Was The Ethical Choice

    Exploiting The Lightning Bug Was The Ethical Choice

    This is an opinion editorial by Shinobi, a self-taught educator in the Bitcoin space and tech-oriented Bitcoin podcast host.

    For the second time in roughly a month, btcd/LND have had a bug exploited which caused them to deviate in consensus from Bitcoin Core. Once again, Burak was the developer who triggered this vulnerability — this time it was clearly intentional — and once again, it was an issue with code for parsing Bitcoin transactions above the consensus layer. As I discussed in my piece on the prior bug that Burak triggered, before Taproot there were limits on how large the script and witness data in a transaction could be. With the activation of Taproot, those limits were removed leaving only the limitations on the block size limit itself to limit these parts of individual transactions. The problem with the last bug was that despite the fact that the consensus code in btcd was properly upgraded to reflect this change, the code handling peer-to-peer transmission — including parsing data before sending or when receiving — did not properly upgrade. So the code processing blocks and transactions before it actually got passed off to be validated for consensus failed the data, never passed it to the consensus validation logic and the block in question failed to ever be validated.

    Shinobi

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  • Another Bug Briefly Took Down Part Of The Lightning Network

    Another Bug Briefly Took Down Part Of The Lightning Network

    The below is a direct excerpt of Marty’s Bent Issue #1278: “Another LND/btcd bug emerges.” Sign up for the newsletter here.

    via GitHub

    For the second time in less than a month, btcd (an alternative implementation of Bitcoin) and, by extension, LND (one of the Lightning implementations) became incompatible with the rest of the Bitcoin network due to some meddling from a developer named Burak.

    Marty Bent

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