She Thought It Was Quinoa—Then She Looked Closer and Gagged

Finding something unpredicted in your lunch can be disturbing—especially when it looks like a cluster of tiny brown balls on your lettuce.

It might be amazing, but sometimes you may even look for insect eggs in salad. If you’ve stumbled upon something similar while eating out or prepping greens at home, here’s what you need to know.

What Are Those Tiny Brown Balls in Your Salad?

It’s possible that those tightly packed, perfectly round tiny spheres are insect eggs rather than food.

More precisely, they look like the eggs of an insect that feeds on leaves, such as a stink bug.

Lettuce and other leafy greens are frequently used as carriers for insect eggs in salads because these insects lay their eggs in precise patterns, frequently on the underside of leaves.