Bugs in my broccoli

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I found loads of tiny bugs/aphids in my broccoli as I was preparing my dinner. I threw it all out.

They were so small I had to strain my eyes to realise they weren't just specks of colour or dirt on the broccoli but little creatures with moving legs.

Has anyone else faced this conundrum? What did/would you do in this situation?

Ours is an infestation of Indian meal moths; they get into our flour, corn meal, oats, rice, dry pasta, roast chickpeas; all sorts of things. Infested things have gone in the compost, new foodstuffs are kept in the refrigerator or plastic containers with a seal of cling wrap under their lids, and while we try to keep a non-violent household; capturing pests and releasing them outside, we've been terminating each and every moth we find with extreme prejudice.

Wow, that's quite a load you had to take on. I might start keeping broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower in a sealed container in the fridge because from what I've read online they are the most vulnerable to aphids feeding on them.

That's common, bugs come in with produce in every grocery store. My brother used to open cases of bananas in the back room of his produce department and then go around stepping on all the black widows that crawled out.
Never stick your hand into bunches of grapes / bananas at the grocery store, there are always complaints of customers getting bitten by stowaways.

Yes, I've seen that on broccoli. You must be buying organically grown broccoli. In a positive way, you could look at it that the broccoli wasn't hosed down with pesticides.

Next time if I were you I would wash the broccoli with a forceful stream of water until they're gone, cook and eat. Even if there was a bug or two that you could not see, you'll never know the difference. Canned vegetables have an acceptable level of insect parts in them, for example. Being a naturally grown product, it would be impossible to avoid any insect contact even if grown hydroponically.

I always buy organic vegetables so sooner or later I was going to learn about this.

Doing the wash on vegetables before eating sounds like a must from now on. I'm kind of scared of green leafy veg now I've found out about this.

I just learned in 80% of the world's countries insects are eaten. Maybe I'm being too squeamish and should just throw the veg into the pan to cook next time. Some people suggest eating more insects could be the answer to environmental problems caused by too much livestock farming.

Look at other green leafies closely as well. I've seen such aphid bugs on kale and cauliflower.

I've heard that too about eating insects as a protein source. It almost seems like in the last five years or so it's been floated as an idea in the media off and on. I don't think it's a conspiracy, but I can't help but think 1%ers which have a disdain for the common man (I'm assuming most of them have such a disdain) would right like the idea of the rest of us crunching on bugs for food. Because you damn well know they wouldn't be supping on the same. It's for this reason as well as the gross factor that I'm against the idea entirely.

Luckily the broccoli I buy is nearly always excellent quality. Broccoli is delicious.

That’s happened to me with kale a few times. Oh and once I found a snail in my salad spinner after washing my kale. It was winter so we built him a little home and kept him until spring.