They don't pay retail for beef either. It is still more expensive - on a pound for pound basis - to raise earthworms, no matter how you look at it.
And simply getting them out of the ground is not going to get you earthworm meat with regularity on an industrial scale. That's not how you raise earthworms in any volume to make a significant contribution to the amount of meat sold in a fast food chain. Yes, you can get some out of the ground using electricity - that's done everywhere. But that's not how you raise earthworms at scale. If you take all of the earthworms out of your yard today, they are gone. There are not new ones moving in anytime soon. Significant volumes of earthworms are raised and sold as fishing bait here in the US, and they are still more expensive than beef, whether one is talking wholesale or retail. It is simply due to the economics of raising earthworms versus cattle.
On a pound-for-pound basis, it is still cheaper to let steer graze on several acres of scrubland than it is to collect that one crop of earthworms from it. Most of what goes into raising cattle is "doing nothing" (for free range cattle), or simply maintaining a feedlot.
This same dumb rumor has been attributed to every fast food chain in existence, from McDonalds to Taco Bell to Burger King. It is false every time. Oh, oh, right... but in the case of one chain in the Philippines, this identical dumb rumor is true.
Go find all of those earthworm farmers making bank, and report back to us.
I never assumed that Jollibee was outsourcing this farming. If this was so that's "too many people" knowing that Jollibee is buying earthworms from earthworm farmers.
I say a select few within the organization are charged with the farming of earthworms instead of going to some earthworm farmer wearing a Jollibee corporate polo shirt asking for 300 million lbs of earthworms.
Also, never did say it say that this company would USE 100% earthworms in their burgers but as filler meaning
20% earthworm
20% soy
60% Beef
or even
60% beef
20%soy
10% chicken
10% pork
I mean really once it's in patty form who really checks? and when it's time TO CHECK i.e. some Philippines government official come check and put a 100% beef stamp of approval.
All you need is someone giving Jollibee a "heads up" that a spot check will come in 2 days or 1 day and THAT day make sure you have 100% beef and when the coast is clear back to the "proprietary blend".
Did I not mention several times on NP how corrupt the Philippines is? It's a poor country everyone has a hand out especially those in power but even more so those in lowly positions not making enough money or just know they CAN make money.
You're not from the Philippines. I am.
My country? They kidnap poor kids off the streets and sell their organs. It's become an urban myth kids stay home but it's been proven that criminals were doing this. Parents were selling their kids to people. God only knows what was done to them.
In my country my mother went home to get her property assessed for taxes. She went home with cash specifically for the Bribes to whoever.
It's pretty common place there like air.
This Earthworm story? Sure. I know it's crazy. It's proven to be untrue supposedly but me? knowing Philippines? I wouldn't put it past some "mcdonald's like" organization to cut costs and make money.
i mean. Earthworms won't kill anyone. At least it's not like in China where it was proven that some Chinese Milk providers were putting Melamine in the millk to add volume to it.
Even some rice producers. not sure if it was in China or Philippines were found out to be adding plastic or styrofoam made to look like little tiny rice grains.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Chinese_milk_scandal
https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2019...e-been-the-real-deal-but-stored-for-a-decade/
“Plastic rice is not made from plastic, it is rice that has been stored for up to 10 years and not stored particularly well. The rice had become badly contaminated with molds and instead of that nice white color, had turned into an unpleasant green color and what the fraudsters had done was they had taken that rice out of the stores and bleached it to get back the white color.
“The only problem was whenever you bleach rice it loses the nice shiny surface so to get that back they sprayed it with paraffin wax. With that paraffin coating on it, it didn’t cook properly, hence the reason it was called plastic rice.”
“The plastic rice is being sold to parts of the world that don’t have those checks and measures. It is not just in South East Asia; in Sub-Saharan Africa it crops up regularly where it is not only rice, they are generally sold the worst of the worst. Anything that cannot go into Europe because of food safety standards will end up getting dumped in Sub-Saharan Africa. They will sell to countries where they don’t have the measures to check and test for these things.”
https://www.cfs.gov.hk/english/multimedia/multimedia_pub/multimedia_pub_fsf_127_01.html
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/is-plastic-rice-for-real/article18761833.ece
And then you have the 2013 Horsemeat Scandal in the UK
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_horse_meat_scandal
"The
2013 horse meat scandal was a food industry scandal in parts of Europe in which foods advertised as containing beef were found to contain undeclared or improperly declared
horse meat – as much as 100% of the meat content in some cases.
[1] A smaller number of products also contained other undeclared meats, such as pork.
[2] The issue came to light on 15 January 2013, when it was reported that horse
DNA had been discovered in frozen
beefburgers sold in several Irish and British supermarkets.
[3]
The analysis stated that 23 out of 27 samples of beef burgers also contained pig DNA; pork is a taboo food in the
Muslim and
Jewish communities.
[4]
While the presence of undeclared meat was not a health issue, the scandal revealed a major breakdown in the traceability of the food supply chain, and the risk that harmful ingredients could have been included as well. Sports horses, for example, could have entered the food supply chain, and with them the veterinary drug
phenylbutazone which is banned in food animals. The scandal has since spread to 13 other European countries, and European authorities have decided to find a EU-wide solution. They initiated meat testing of about 4,000 horse meat samples for the veterinary drug."
See the horsemeat scandal I'm sure was at one point a myth or urban legend until someone investigated and finally proved it.
I'm sure past investigations into this "myth" were done and debunked just like with the Earthworm story.
The problem with "investigations" is that how do you know if the investigators aren't bribed? or those being investigated weren't given a "heads up" so they can clean up their act and put up a good show for the investigators? These are things regular people like you think could never happen. But it does.
You will now probably tell me that Bribed officials are also an Urban myth? an urban legend? like it could NEVER HAPPEN?
anything is possible with the right stack of money.
Ok look the whole Earthworm story might have been "debunked" and you might have all the evidence but it does not put my mind at ease. Especially when such large companies have opportunities to get away with it.
The problem with the Earthworm story or myth is simply that "NO ONE HAS GOTTEN CAUGHT YET".
And that could be because well they are VERY VERY GOOD at hiding this.
and with a "Bribe culture" in the Philippines. This story can easily be squashed in just swept under the rug.
Myth and stories since the dawn of time that may or may not be true have been around to keep people on their toes. "just in case".
I mean heck Religion is a "myth" or "legend".
yet here we are praying to Budhha or God or Jehovah or Vishnu or even Satan.
Can't prove any of these exist either. yet billions believe in them.
Many logical people pray. why? because we all die in thee end and I'm sure they all are thinking.
"Just in case it's true." No one wants to go to eternal hell.
If an urban legend makes people more cautious about a burger why would you poke fun at that?
better to be safe than sorry. but ALWAYS QUESTION everything. don't be Sheep.
Would I still eat Jollibee in the Philippines knowing there's probably Earthworms in it? Sure why not? tastes good. smells good. looks good. and earthworms have more protein per ounce than a pound of beef or something like that.
I guess that's what they call them Yum Burgers lol.
As far as calling someone dumb outright for saying something well "dumb". It's a bit much.
A Child once asked the village wise man how he (the child) could become wise like him?
Wise man said "To become wise you must assume you know nothing."
Translation. people who think they know it all are really dumb.
Many have been called dumb or crazy since the dawn of time. Funn think about dumb or stupid or crazy ideas. All it takes is one moment to prove it wrong.Wright brothers anyone?
So if horsemeat scandal in 2013 was true? and plastic rice was true (but actually it was 10 year old rice with mold bleached white and then sprayed with parafin wax which made it float in water.
and Melamine milk was true.
Earthworm burger meat couldn't possibly be true?
