Can eating maggots cause food poisoning?
On One Hand: Maggots Do Not Cause Food PoisoningYou can get food poisoning from eating food contaminated with pesticides, heavy metals, other toxic substances or toxins produced by microbes, according to “Microbiology (Fifth Edition),” by Jacquelyn Black. These toxic substances that can taint food can destroy tissue inside the eater’s body.On the Other: Maggots May Carry ToxinsMaggots feed on decaying flesh, notes the Australian Museum, so they can acquire toxins. Contaminated maggots have been accessories to botulism in birds feeding on decaying fish, observes the New York Sea Grant, a cooperative program of the State University of New York and Cornell University.Bottom LineLike spoiled potato salad, maggots may contain toxic substances capable of causing food poisoning. But maggots themselves, a larval form in the fly life cycle, are not inherently toxic.
