If killing a gnat or fruit fly on shabbos is not considered nettles neshama. Would it follow that it would be permissible to eat the aforementioned species? After all the Torah does not view these creatures as living beings, it is like eating a moving vegetable.
Answer:
It is not permitted to eat such creatures.
Sources:
An interesting source for this matter is the Mordechai (Chullin 735) who cites a dispute concerning the status of “birds that grow on trees,” which were understood to be born of the tree and not by means of procreation. Some ruled that these birds do not require shechitah, but others required shechitah.
Concerning fruit flies and the like, the explicit halachah is that once they leave the fruit, it is forbidden to eat them. Even if there is no inherent prohibition on eating them, once they leave the food there is a prohibition on account of maris ayin.
See Rambam, Ma’achalos Asurus 2:13; Shulchan Aruch Yoreh De’ah 84:16, and nosei keilim (see especially Peri Chadash); Chochmas Adam end of 38.
Best wishes.
