Are China Mealworms OK?

[MiaCarter]

So, I know in the pet world, food items from China are a no-go.

What about mealworms from China?
Are they safe?

The brand is Chubby Mealworms.

They say: "All of our dried mealworms are USDA and FDA approved."
But anyone can say that; I have no way to verify it.

This is a really great price -- 2 lbs for $30. (I usually pay $9 something for 2 oz., so it's like $150 worth of mealworms for $30)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2lb-Dried-Mealw ... 418297ee68

[Corkysgirl]

Mia, I personally wouldn't take a chance on anything edible from China. (I won't buy anything from China...period!) It's not worth the risk to me. If something happened, you would be so upset, and I learned the hard way, you can't bring back a bird after it's gone.

[MiaCarter]

Corkysgirl -- Yeah, that's a good point.
You can't unring that bell, so to speak, when it comes to health and life.

Is anyone familiar with this "Chubby" brand?

I'll do some more research to see what I can find.
I did check their feedback and it was all positive, with no mentions of any illness that I saw.
I also did some googling with the brand name and other key terms like "sick" and "recall" and so forth but didn't find anything.

I don't usually do foods from China, but I was thinking of making an exception since it's not really something that's manufactured per se.
Just dried and bagged. Seems like it would be hard to mess that up (but I'm sure it can be done!)

I also wonder if there's a way to check if they are, indeed USDA and FDA approved? I'm going to look into that. I'd be more apt to trust them if that could be confirmed, as I know they need to meet rather high standards and it's monitored closely.

[Corkysgirl]

I'm too paranoid. I would worry about a bad batch. I did actually see them on Amazon the other night but decided against them for that very reason.

[KarenB]

I would rather see you buy the mealworms that are fed to wild birds than get them from China. I bought some from Kroger in the wild bird food section. I don't use very many, so I don't need a huge bulk bag. I grind them up with freeze-dried fly pupae and sprinkle on egg food. I think mine cost a couple, three bucks, but I really don't remember exactly. To me they seemed super cheap compared to what I'd pay for them at the bird shop. The one I got is a 7 oz bag, and I like that the worms are on the smaller side.

[MiaCarter]

Yeah, the more I think about it, the more nervous it makes me.

I'm sure I can look around and find them for a better price than what I currently pay, but from somewhere other than China.
We go through a LOT of mealworms. I crush them up into a powder, just like you KarenB.

I only have 8 birds, and they go through a little over an ounce a week. The 2-ounce packet lasts about 10 days. And it will be even faster now with the 4 babies!

[Sunbay]

I think the fact you are leery enough to ask, answered your question.

NO WAY - I would feed any animal anything produced, made, grown, packaged, etc. in China.

I base stating that relying on known and broadly published reports of poisonous ingredients in other animal food from China. Recently.

Spend a little more - worth the peace of mind.

Lauren

[wildbird]

I would NEVER feed anything that came from China! Why not raise your own? Or, you can get live mini mealworms by the 1000's from Grubco. I used to buy them for my English Sparrows. They would eat four or five a day & loved them. They last for many months & don't require much care.

[MiaCarter]

Okay, so I decided against the China mealworms. I don't want to kill my babies.

I found a great price on some that are grown by a company in Florida.
They're $18.98 for 1 pound, which is a tad bit more than the China mealworms, but it's okay. The brand is "Tasty Worms".
http://tinyurl.com/nocbufn

If you have Prime, shipping is free. (They have free trials. I do one for every email account I have. )
Or you just get 2 so you get over the $35 threshold for free shipping.

I also found a good price on bloodworms.
It's $17.27 for 50 grams, which is just short of 2 ounces. The brand is San Francisco Bay:
http://tinyurl.com/p9mh9uq

If anyone has a source with a better price, let me know! My guys love these, but they get pricey. (And I'm making up a chart for my site with the best prices I've found for various birdie essentials.)

Oh, and there's a couple hours left on Petco's free shipping (no minimum purchase). It's good thru 3:00 am EST.
Promo code is SHIPFREEJULY

(Of course, I just bought stuff and paid for shipping! Gaaaah.)

[Corkysgirl]

I hate when that happens. Yum! Tasty worms! One day I'll be a good mother and give worms to my birds. I don't know why I have such an issue with it. I let my son give his Iguana live meal worms we even harvested ourselves. Must be the meds making everything seem yucky to me! Even eggs are not looking too good. My husband will have to learn the program soon.
If I see any sales though I'll let you know. I saw Tetra had them at Foster & Smith I think for $2.99 but I can't really tell what size your bottle is by a visual and even the contain at F & S didn't have a size on it.

[MiaCarter]

Corkysgirl -- I'm surprised it doesn't bother me more.
I'm total vegetarian and can't even stand the smell of cooking flesh. Even wet dog/cat food gets me.

But the mealworms don't bug me (hehehe....bug me).
I think it's because I crush them up first.
But I couldn't raise them. I'd grow fond of them, I'm sure. Or at least pity them enough to set them free.

I tried doing live mealworms, but it was terrible. They tortured them, watched them crawl about, but didn't eat them.
I ended up putting the mutilated mealworms out of their misery by putting them in the freezer and gave the rest to my neighbor! LOL

That 50-gram/2-ounce bloodworm canister is a great price!
You usually pay around $2.99 for the small .28 ounce Tetra canister and we plow through one of those in about 3-4 days.

[Corkysgirl]

Oh, I see the measurement/ratio now...ounces to grams. I didn't mind the live meal worms back then and even watching the iguana, had no problem with that. My turtles used to eat pinkies too. Ewww...a little grosser. I'm having trouble eating much of anything...except organic spelt pretzels, organic cashew butter and organic lemonade lately. Not really food for sustaining life but everything grosses me out...with chemo. With turkeys, chickens and bulls that we raise, I am not even thinking about eating them right now. Hopefully by the time the garden is harvested, I'll feel good and eat healthy foods. My poor husband will be canning all of it himself otherwise.
You're so funny...you'd grow fond of them. Wow, your guys really go through blood worms. I can barely say the words.

[Finnie]

I get mine at my local Tractor Supply. Not sure if you have one of those near you. But at $10 for 10 ounces, that translates to $16.00 per pound, which is a little cheaper than the Amazon price. http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/h ... enzy-10-oz Come to think of it, though, the specs on the website don't say whether they are imported or not. After this discussion about mealworms coming from from China, I think I will need to go down and look at my package to see what it says.

Kaytee brand are imported. I've bought those before too, but now I feel like I should find out just where they were imported from!

[MiaCarter]

Finnie -- Thanks for sharing!
That's a great price.

I know we have lots of farms in our area, so there's got to be a Tractor Supply Store somewhere nearby!

Got my "Tasty Worms" yesterday, right on schedule! They seem to enjoy them just as much as the pricier brands.
Just waiting for my bloodworms and Insect treat to arrive!

[kyubi]

Are u talking about freeze dry blood worm or frozen ? I wonder would they eat live black worm for fish ? And I feed mine finches live mealworms , I wanna try n c if they would eat the dried one ...