A lot of the fear of this is just cultural. I'm sure our ancestors prior to the discovery of the first pesticides, arsenic compounds in the 19th century, ate a LOT of wormy fruit, either directly or indirectly in processed form, and didn't give it much second thought. And, I'm sure that in many poor countries around the world, it's still the norm, not the exception, to have to eat things untreated with pesticides. Most of those people no doubt also just "eat around" the parts that are too damaged to be edible. They probably turn the bad stuff into food indirectly by feeding it to chickens, pigs, goats, or whatever which then provides a human food source. And, of course, there are many cultures around the world that directly eat and enjoy insects. Aborigines in Australia ate many, many kinds of insects. In Thailand, giant water bugs, dipped in batter and deep fried, are a gourmet delicacy and are becoming very expensive, the supply being limited due to overharvesting, pesticide runoff, etc. I also recently saw an episode of Rick Bayliss' PBS series 'Mexico One Plate at a Time' where he was in a very exclusive restaurant in Mexico city that was serving fried grasshoppers. Really, any time you eat most commercially processed foods of plant origin, such as breads, juices, etc., you are getting trace amounts of insect proteins. The federal government sets allowable levels of insect matter in all kinds of foodstuffs. "Zero" just isn't realistically attainable in a cost-effective way. Here is a link to an FDA publication which shows the allowable level of contamination of various types of things in certain foods. Some of it may be higher than many people know -- for example, 4% of cocoa beans can be infested and still be sold in the US food trade. Canned tomatoes can have no more than 2 fruit fly larvae per 500 gram (slightly larger than a pound) can. Ground nutmeg can have no more than 100 insect fragments per 10 grams. Here is a link that might be useful: FDA guide to allowable contamination levels in food.

It was said: "The Master Gardeners I know here are associated with the universities demonstration garden. " Policies for Master Gardeners vary from state to state, and among counties within an individual state. In Oregon, MGs are trained to answer common questions from the gardening public. The MGs have various professional publications as resources and can consult with extension agents when they need additional assistance.

I have the same problem with my cat he's 1 and half years old and eats excessively. He has been wormed and has nothing wrong with him. Ever since I got him he has always scoffed his food he eats it so fast that he throws up and then eats his throw up. He will growl if you get close to him when he eats and we have to put him in a seperate room because he will steal our other cats food. Lately he has been jumping the fence and eating the neighbours cats food which is for 4 cats and he eats it all. He growls at the other cats eats all the food and comes home hungry. I read an article that he could be eating out of Bordem but I'm not sure you could be playing with and if he smelt food he would go for it every time. Can anybody shed some light on why he is so hungry and does anyone else have this problem.

SaltiDawg, All of my dogs are rescued and therefore, I/we don't always know what those poor dogs have been through. The pit I have that ate poops were in horrible shape when we got her at 9 months. She was scared and afraid of EVERYTHING. We were having a very hard time putting up with that behavior but we are working it through by being very proactive about cleaning up and thanks God we are self employed so that we can most of the time have her with us, but I can understand those of us who are not self employed would have a very hard time supervise their dogs with this problem full time. However, there are time we/I must be away from our pit, but I economize and have a budget to hire extra help to help us out watching her when we could not. But anyone who could not, it is really OK. The dog will be fine. Just the fact that you give it a good home and do your best to walk them, and leave the rest up to God. Hey, just make sure you get them proper shots and deworming medication and they are resilient. Don't mind my saying, but just do your very best. We do walk our Pit twice a day, rain or shine regardless. Even when I got the flu, I would take some Advil and then do it. After about 6 or 7 months of constant love and praise, our Pit is the best dog and got a heart that is bigger than her or this universe! I got 4 dogs, 3 little ones and the Pit is the nicest/best behave than the other three. Good luck to everyone and hang in there:) and don't give up on your dogs! Their life depend on you 100% and they are more than worth it:)