Is it harmful to eat maggots?

While the thought disgusts many people, eating maggots causes no physical harm to people, according to Forbes. In fact, some foods may contain maggots. The FDA allows mushroom producers to ship cans of mushrooms with up to 19 maggots present.

Maggots are often present in ripe or rotting fruit grown outside where fruit flies flock. While the University of Minnesota encourages people to clean, cook or freeze fruit to kill the maggots, the school also notes that accidentally eating maggots does not hurt people. When people use maggot-infested fruit in cooking processes, the maggots often expire due to the heat or other ingredients.