We might be able to eat insects like crickets in Singapore soon.

But it has not been approved just yet.

However, it seems that some cai png (mixed vegetable rice, or economy rice) stalls in Singapore jumping the gun when it comes to consuming some critters.

That, or they just don’t wash their ingredients carefully enough.

One patron of a cai png store had a rude shock when she found a “caterpillar” in one of her vegetable dishes halfway through the meal.

Or was that a long bean? The jury is still out on this matter.

Here’s what we know.

Woman Finds Caterpillar in Her Cai Png

Earlier this week, one TikTok user Ziwei Yong (user @ziweeei_), posted a short five-second clip on the social media platform that was enough to turn our stomachs.

The content of the video?

A zoom-in of her half-eaten cai png showed a green thing curled up on what looked like some braised cabbages.

Said green thing looked to be a caterpillar.

But it could also be a “long bean”, as mentioned in user @ziweeei_’s caption.

What do you think? You can be the judge of that based on the pictures below.

If it really is a caterpillar, we’re glad that ZIwei Yong had sharp eyes and stopped consuming the food before she accidentally ate the caterpillar.

Then again, it might not be a big deal to consume these insects that make our skins crawl in the near future.

In the near future, Singapore foodies may get to chomp on a variety of insects. These include crickets, silkworms and grasshoppers.

The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) is currently studying the feasibility of approving these insects as part of human consumption safety rules in Singapore. The results are slated to be out in the second half of 2023.

Whether insects will be approved for consumption in Singapore depends on whether there are sufficient measures in place to “kill pathogens” and ensure that the food is packed and stored with adequate measures to allow for minimal contamination.

Insects may be a good way for humans to get more proteins as insects require less feed to farm and emit fewer greenhouse gases than farmed livestock like cows, pigs or chickens.

That said, we can imagine that the vegetarians and vegans amongst us would frown upon eating more live creatures. This ethical dilemma will have to be on hold until the SFA gives the formal stamp of approval to go ahead with consuming insects.

Are you game to eat some insects?