FDA: If You’re Allergic to Shellfish, Don’t Eat Cicadas
The United States Food and Drug Administration has issued a warning to America about the 17-year Brood X cicadas the news keeps bringing up.
In a tweet, the FDA said Wednesday that people with allergies to seafood need to stay away from eating the cicadas because of their relation to sea creatures.
The Brood X cicadas apparently only come out of the ground every 17 years, and they surfaced last month in several states on the Eastern side of the country. Multiple times the past few weeks, restaurants and confectioneries have made headlines for their use of the insect in foods and candies, such as:
- Maryland Candy Company selling chocolate covered cicadas with sprinkles
- The Mexican restaurant that keeps selling out of their cicada tacos
- Chefs creating sashimi dishes with cicadas and carp
- People recommending to eat them with Old Bay Seasoning
The list goes on and on, but most sane people are like this guy on Twitter who had a great response to the FDA's tweet about the pests.
Another commenter wanted to know why the FDA wasn't reminding people not to eat lobster and shrimp, calling them seabugs as well. It makes sense if they share enough "family relation" to cicadas to cause an allergy, that it'd mean shrimp and lobster are in the bug category.
Who knows. I'm not eating them either way.
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