TODAY - A Utah school district responded to claims that students were fed bugs as part of a writing assignment.
A description of the assignment posted to the school’s website reads in part: “Students just wrapped up a unit on if bugs are a good source of protein or not which culminated in an extra exciting day where students could even try out a bug if they wanted to. Middle-schoolers loved the ‘ewww’ factor (and) many of them gave bugs a try (and even a few staff members!).”
Can bugs actually be part of a nutritious diet? Perhaps.
"Bugs are eaten just about everywhere in the world except the United States and Europe," Rick Redak, a professor of entomology and department chair at UC Riverside, tells TODAY.com. "There are probably 500 to 1,000 species of insects that are used for food."