By: Annie Xu

Last week, at one of Taylor Swift’s Chicago performances for her Eras tour, she ate a bug. While most of us accidentally inhale or swallow bugs daily, most of the time there are not videos circulating online about it. However, for Taylor Swift, this was different. Fans swarmed to social media platforms to post videos recorded of Swift choking on a bug.

Swallowing bugs and inhaling them is not too uncommon. Most people inhale bugs daily. However, most of the bugs we inhale are harmless and pose no threat to us. The worst side effect of swallowing bugs is the possibility of allergies. However, for most people, as Jerome Grant, an entomology professor at the University of Tennessee, says it is simply “just a little extra protein.”

Estimates online claim that people consume 1 to 2 pounds of bugs a year. However, Grant finds little truth in these statements. To ingest 2 pounds of bugs a year, you would have to eat 300,000 bugs a year, assuming that each bug is around 2.5 to 3 milligrams. That comes out to be around 800 insects a day or roughly 5600 insects a year.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture agreed with Grant. They said that the estimate of 1 to 2 pounds is exaggerated and incorrect. A pound of insects is more around how much you would consume in a lifetime, rather than a year. The FDA released a handbook that states the number of foul things that can be in your food. It is titled “Food Defect Levels Handbook.” Much of the information in this handbook is jarring. For example, for every pound of cocoa beans, there is 10mg of rat feces allowed.

While these numbers can be surprising and scary, most of the food we consume does not have this much insect contamination. These numbers are on the high end. At the end of the day, most, if not all of these insects are virtually harmless to humans. There is no proven health risk to eating insects. Especially in the amount that you probably consume a year.

Taylor Swift might be considered a God to some people, but it is in these moments that our idols and stars become real people.