Don’t eat cicadas if allergic to shellfish, FDA says

Health authorities are advising people with seafood allergies to avoid eating cicadas that have swarmed the East Coast.

The Brood X bugs could trigger allergic reactions due to taxonomic relations to certain shellfish, according to a Wednesday announcement from the United States Food and Drug Administration.

“Yep! We have to say it! Don’t eat #cicadas if you’re allergic to seafood as these insects share a family relation to shrimp and lobsters,” the FDA tweeted, linking to its webpage on food allergies.

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As news of the imminent cicada swarms started to break, many looked into the possibility of eating them. On May 5, the Washington Post published a guide on how to eat the bugs, ranging from frying them to cooking them like live lobsters.

Some have even turned to the bug for dessert. Chouquette Chocolates in Maryland sells chocolate-covered cicadas and offers a tutorial showing customers how to make them. The store sells anything from dark chocolate peppermint truffles shaped like cicadas all the way to the real thing if customers are daring enough to try.

Crustaceans and insects have similar chemical compositions, leading to similar allergic responses, according to Dr. Zoe Getman-Pickering of George Washington University. Some even call cicadas “tree shrimp.” However, the similarities to shellfish go beyond allergies.

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“You can roast them up. You can actually use them almost interchangeably with shrimp,” Smithsonian entomologist Dr. Floyd Shockley said in early May, according to WUSA 9.