YouTube Deep SummaryYouTube Deep Summary

Star Extract content that makes a tangible impact on your life

Video thumbnail

Are there really dead wasps in figs? - Carolyn Beans

TED-Ed • 5:20 minutes • Published 2025-07-03 • YouTube

📚 Chapter Summaries (3)

🤖 AI-Generated Summary:

Are You Eating Bugs? The Surprising Truth About Insects in Your Food

In 2023, a major US grocer made headlines by recalling over 10,000 cases of broccoli cheddar soup — not because of a harmful contaminant, but due to concerns about an unexpected ingredient: bugs. This incident might make you wonder just how many insects you’re actually consuming and whether that’s something to worry about.

The Curious Case of Figs and Wasps

To understand how insects end up in our food, let’s explore an extraordinary natural relationship: the mutual bond between figs and tiny wasps, which has been evolving for around 80 million years. Each of the roughly 750 fig species relies on at least one unique species of fig wasp for pollination—a relationship so intricate that figs aren’t technically fruits but rather fleshy structures holding hundreds of tiny flowers inside.

The common fig, the variety most humans consume, has a special reproductive system called gynodioecy, which is quite rare among flowering plants. Some fig trees produce only female flowers that can bear seeds, while others—called caprifigs—have both male and female flowers.

Female fig wasps play a crucial role in this system. They enter a fig through a tiny hole, following specific scent cues, and depending on the type of fig they enter, different things happen:

  • In caprifigs, wasps lay eggs inside flower ovaries, which then turn into galls to nurture the developing wasp larvae. Males hatch first, fertilize females (often their sisters), dig exit tunnels, and die without leaving the fig. The fertilized female wasps then exit to pollinate other figs.

  • In female figs, wasps cannot lay eggs because of flower structure, so they die inside after pollinating the fig. This allows the fig tree to reproduce without producing more wasps.

Interestingly, female wasps cannot distinguish between male and female figs because both emit similar odors, ensuring that many figs get pollinated and can reproduce.

Humans Changed the Game

Humans began cultivating figs about 11,400 years ago in the Jordan Valley, possibly making figs the first domesticated crop. A genetic mutation allowed some fig trees to produce ripe fruit without the need for pollination by wasps. This breakthrough meant humans could propagate figs using cuttings rather than relying on the delicate wasp-fig relationship.

Today, over 1.3 million tons of figs are harvested annually worldwide. So, how many wasps are we eating with them?

  • Fresh store-bought figs are usually from varieties that do not require pollination and are therefore free of wasps.
  • Many dried figs still require pollination, but consumers mostly eat figs from female trees where wasps cannot reproduce. Occasionally, a female wasp that tried and failed to lay eggs might be inside, but natural enzymes and moisture in figs generally break down the wasp’s body.

Bugs in Our Food: Inevitable and Often Harmless

Beyond figs, insects frequently end up in other food products, either harvested accidentally with crops or attracted to food processing environments. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) even permits certain levels of insect fragments in various foods — for example, up to 30 insect fragments per 100 grams of peanut butter or over 2,500 aphids in 10 grams of hops.

Estimates suggest that the average American consumes roughly one kilogram of insects annually without any health issues. In fact, entomophagy (the practice of eating insects) is a traditional part of diets for over 2 billion people worldwide and is considered a sustainable source of nutrition.

The Takeaway

While the idea of eating bugs might sound unappetizing at first, it’s important to realize that insects are already an unavoidable part of our food system and can even contribute nutritional benefits. The next time you enjoy a bowl of broccoli cheddar soup or a handful of dried figs, remember the tiny creatures that might have played a role in bringing that food to your table—sometimes quite literally.

So, maybe chewing on the idea of bugs in your food isn’t so bad after all.

📝 Transcript Chapters (3 chapters):

📝 Transcript (82 entries):

## Intro [00:00] In 2023, a US grocer recalled over 10,000 cases of broccoli cheddar soup over concerns they contained too much of an unintended ingredient. That ingredient? Bugs. We know insects regularly come into contact with our food— but how many are you actually eating? And is it okay? Let’s start with an extreme example: ## Figs and wasps [00:28] figs and their conspicuously close bond with certain bugs. Around 80 million years ago, wasps started pollinating figs. And today, each of the approximately 750 fig tree species depends on at least one unique species of tiny wasps. Pollinator-plant relationships can get hyper-specific. And figs guard their flowers especially tight for fig wasps. Technically, a fig isn't a fruit, but a fleshy bundle derived from stem tissues that holds hundreds of internal flowers— like a hidden garden. Humans typically harvest one species: the common fig. Its breeding system, called gynodioecy, is seen in less than 1% of flowering plants. It works with some common fig trees having seed-producing female parts, while others, called caprifigs, have both female seed-producing and male pollen-producing parts. Wasps get involved when a female fig wasp full of eggs follows odor cues to a common fig tree and thrusts herself into the minuscule hole at a developing fig’s base. From there, depending on whether it's a caprifig or a female fig, things go one of two ways, the outcome being either more wasps or more figs. If it’s a caprifig, the wasp deposits her eggs into the flowers’ ovaries, then dies. Instead of developing seeds, those flower ovaries turn into galls that nurture the wasp’s developing offspring. Wingless and blind, the males hatch first, open the remaining galls, and fertilize the developing females— yes, oftentimes their sisters, unless another wasp laid eggs here. Next, the males dig exit pathways they never use themselves because they die before leaving the fig. Finally, the already-fertilized females hatch, exit through the male-made holes, getting coated with pollen on the way, and fly off to other figs. If a wasp winds up in a female fig, however, she can’t lay her eggs because the flowers are structured differently. So, she dies without offspring— but she did pollinate the fig’s flowers, so the tree can reproduce. Female wasps don’t know which kind of fig they’re entering— and whether it’ll give her offspring or use her to make its own— because fig trees smell the same, regardless of sex. This ensures that a good portion of common figs can also reproduce and not just further wasp-kind. ## Humans and figs [03:03] That was how things went— until humans intervened. Archaeological records suggest that people in the Jordan Valley grew figs some 11,400 years ago, possibly making them the first domesticated crop. When a genetic mutation emerged that allowed the tree’s fruit to ripen without being pollinated, people began propagating it with cuttings. And suddenly the common fig wasn’t beholden to wasps; it had a new partner to multiply with. The crop spread far and wide, and today we harvest more than 1.3 million tons of figs annually. So how many wasps are we eating? Well, store-bought fresh figs are typically of the common fig varieties that ripen without pollinators, so they’re wasp-free. Many that are sold dried, however, still require pollination. But, of these, we usually don’t eat caprifig fruits, where the mother wasp and her male offspring die. Instead, we eat dried figs from female trees, which may contain a female wasp that attempted—and failed— to lay her eggs in it. However, it’s also possible that the moisture and enzymes figs naturally release break her body down. Big picture, though, bugs are often harvested with our produce or attracted to food processing facilities. Eating them is kind of inevitable. The US Food and Drug Administration actually permits certain amounts of bug bits in different food products. For example, no more than 30 insect fragments per 100 grams of peanut butter, or over 2,500 aphids in 10 grams of hops. Some estimates hold that Americans eat around a kilogram of insects annually— without incident, and maybe even a little added nutrition. After all, insects feature in over 2 billion people's traditional diets and are relatively sustainable. So, maybe chew on that.