What’s for breakfast? At Chicago hotel hosting DNC event, there may have been mealworms

CHICAGO– Mealworms may have sickened at least one person at an event at a Chicago hotel earlier this week. Democratic National Conventionthe city’s police chief said Thursday.

While the investigation by Chicago police and the FBI is ongoing, Chicago Police Chief Larry Snelling said there is evidence that people are leaving mealworms on tables.

“I’m not sure if they were maggots,” Snelling said Thursday when asked about the possibility that insects had fallen on several tables. “There was sawdust, so they were probably mealworms. They look the same. But that’s still under investigation.”

Mealworms are common insects with worm-like, yellow to brown colored bodies. They are the larvae of the mealworm beetle. Maggots look similar, but have a soft body with a white to transparent color. They are the larval stage of flies.

Multiple suspects, all women, entered the Fairmont Chicago, where a breakfast was being held for DNC delegates, and began placing “unknown objects” on tables filled with food before leaving the area around 6:45 a.m. Wednesday, police said.

According to Chicago police, one person who ate the food was treated by medical personnel and released at the scene.

The Fairmont Hotel confirmed the “disruption,” adding in a statement that staff “took immediate action to clean and sanitize the area so the event could proceed without further incident.”

Earlier this year, activists released hundreds of mealworms, maggots and crickets into the Washington DC hotel Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to protest the war in Gaza.