Are there roaches in chocolate

According to the United States Food and Drug Administration FDA , anything less than 60 insect pieces per grams of chocolate — around two typical bars of store bought chocolate — is deemed safe for public consumption. Bugs are constantly present during the food manufacturing process, from crop production to transportation to storage. While you might think that regulators ensure that your end product is bug-free, that might not always be the case.

According to ABC News , your average chocolate bar, for instance, contains around 8 insect parts. In a study by ant and insect control company Terro, this means that chocolate lovers could be eating almost 6, pieces of bugs in their diets every single year.

Allergist Morton Teich at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai said that instead, most people who experience hives, migraines, cramps or itching after consuming chocolate are probably triggered by cockroach parts and droppings on cocoa beans. Anything less than 60 insect pieces per grams of chocolate two chocolate bars' worth is deemed safe for consumption by the Food and Drug Administration. Allergists say most foods contain natural contaminants. Aside from chocolate, cockroach parts also make their way into peanut butter, macaroni, fruit, cheese, popcorn and wheat.

The roach bits can affect people with asthma, as well causing migraines, cramps, itching or hives in people who are allergic to them. The first cockroach allergy was reported in , and skin testing for cockroaches began in Cockroach allergies can be treated with allergy shots that contain trace amounts of the insect.

According to Morton Teich, an allergist at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, contamination by cockroaches and their droppings is unavoidable, because it happens at cocoa beans' source — the farms where they are produced. Morton M. Trace amounts of insect parts that are ground into the food and can affect people with allergies and asthma. Some side effects include migraines, cramps, itching or hives.

Chocolate isn't the only food product to blame for contamination, other foods like peanut butter, macaroni, fruit, cheese, popcorn, wheat and some cheese also contain this material.