Simulation shows danger of eating world's most dangerous cheese containing live maggots

There is a cheese dangerous enough to eat that it's been illegal to sell for over 60 years, and did we mention that it contains live maggots still wriggling around inside it?

This is casu marzu, the cheese known as one of the world's most dangerous delicacies because eating it can be seriously harmful to your health.

Originating in Sardinia, the idea behind this cheese is making a hole in a wheel of pecorino cheese so that flies will lay eggs in it.

When the eggs hatch into maggots they begin to eat the cheese, and the digestive acid of the bugs is meant to make the cheese softer, and by the time someone wants to eat the cheese there'll be loads of maggots writhing around inside it.

It's actually considered a warning sign to eat the cheese if the maggots have died as it means the cheese has gone bad, so if someone wants to munch away on casu marzu then they're probably going to get a mouthful of still living maggots as well.

The dangers of maggot cheese

As for the health hazards, a simulation from the TikTok account @yourbodyspeak ran though some of the better known risks that come from consuming the cheese.

Eating the cheese usually means eating the maggots, and Science Daily warns that letting flies and maggots eat away risks spreading salmonella into food, which would give the person who ate it salmonella as well.

Studies have also warned that the bacterial contamination from the maggots produces cadaverine and putrescine, which can become toxic if there's enough of it.

On top of that, if the maggots survive the crunching of your teeth, the slide down your oesophagus and being dropped into your stomach acid then they can take up residence in your intestines.

Once they start squatting there they can cause something called 'intestinal myiasis', which is a fancy term for a parasitic infestation in one's intestines.

They start chomping away at your intestinal tissue which is particularly painful, so there's a good reason why you probably shouldn't eat this cheese.

Illegal cheese for years

The Italian government banned the sale of casu marzu back in 1962 on account of it being 'infested food', and it's also illegal under European Union laws.

Plenty of other countries have also banned it as they consider it to be a dangerously unsafe food and selling something to eat that's full of maggots is typically seen as something the law would stop.

Despite the disgusting nature of the cheese there are people who do want to eat it, so people do still make the food and there is a market for it.

According to CNN some local Sardinians eat the cheese and consider it to be a traditional dish, though they warned selling it can lead to fines of €50,000, and some more adventurous tourists can end up trying it as well.

However, a majority of them prefer to stick to the other culinary delights that Sardinian cuisine has to offer.

I think I'll stick to Wensleydale, thank you very much.