A student discovered a living insect in his salad Sunday at Douglas Hall cafeteria.

University Food Services Manager Charlene Reiling said the student found the insect and reported it to her.

“He called it a worm but I’d never seen anything like it,” she said. Reiling said she took the salad to the employers who prepared and served it so they could be aware of the problem.

“I checked the salad bar but I didn’t find any more insects,” she said.

Reiling said this is the first time she has seen an insect all year. She said this type of thing generally happens around the fall.

Patty Lee, food services food specialist, said the “beetle-like insect” came from the lettuce and was found in a salad which came from the cafeteria salad bar.

“The lettuce does not have the good quality that it usually has,” Lee said. She said the lettuce comes from California and does have insects during the rainy season.

“There has been a lot of rain there (California) and that brings mud and insect problems,” she said.

She said the three-eighths-of-an-inch long insect was an oversight which happens occasionally during the washing procedure.

“This kind of thing does happen. We’re talking about food that comes from the ground, not something we can package and store,” she said.

The washing procedure involves dipping the heads of lettuce into salt water, which kills any insects, Lee said.

She said she will meet with the food service staff to ensure they are following the procedure and to caution them to inspect the produce more carefully.

Douglas receives its produce from Pedi Brothers Food Services in Chicago. Kevin Parpan, sales and marketing vice president, said they have not received any calls about insects in their produce.

“The insect we were having the problem with is called the White Fly. To the best of my knowledge, this problem only lasted for about one week,” Parpan said.

“There are two reasons for the insects during the rainy season. One is the rain washes away the pesticides, and the other is the insects crawl up into the leafy produce to escape the water.”

Parpan attributed this to the rain in California and said farmers have had a poor yield as well. “Usually, in a good yield, a case will weigh about 60 pounds. Now the cases weigh about 40 pounds,” he said.

e said there is a crisis in the lettuce market for consumers. Parpan said there should be no more problem with insects because lettuce no longer is being picked in rainy California, but in the desert areas.