Are Tiny Maggots Living Inside Strawberries?
I love strawberries and now this Tik Tok video is having me second guess eating them again. A video has gone viral on social media showing that if strawberries are soaked in saltwater it draws out all the tiny bugs that live inside of them. Hold up. What? Seleste Radcliffe posted the video a few days ago and it already has over 2.5 million views on Tik Tok.
Radcliffe demonstrates how to make the bugs come out of the strawberries. The video has many people confused and disturbed, as well as myself. Who knew strawberries had tiny critters? Well, just what kind of critters are they? According to an expert, it could be maggots of a fly, and soaking the berries in water may force them out. Srivanka Lahiri, a strawberry and small fruit crop entomologist and assistant professor at the University of Florida, told Health.com the tiny white worms are the maggots of a fly known as spotted wing drosophila Lahiri also said this is an invasive species and they lay eggs inside ripe berries, which then causes the maggots to hatch inside the fresh fruit. So that means these things are likely in most berries. I’m officially GROSSED OUT.
Many people didn’t see the bugs coming out in the video. Many have tried soaking strawberries and didn’t have success with the bugs coming out. But, there are a lot of people who have experienced the same reaction as Radcliffe did. Maybe you could try it at home. All I have to say if you are still going to eat berries, wash them in salt water to get all the nastiness out first. That. Is. All.