Horrified people are swearing off strawberries after learning that small bugs and worms crawl out of them when they are soaked in salt water.
People have been taking to TikTok to share footage of themselves trying the fruit cleaning method to see if there are little critters hiding in their store-bought berries — and many were disgusted to find out there were.
Writer Krista Torres posted a video of herself making gagging noises after watching a tiny worm crawl across one of her strawberries following a 30-minute salt water soak.
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Yuck: People have been taking to TikTok to share videos of themselves soaking their store-bought strawberries in salt water to see if any bugs or small worms come out
‘It’s moving. There it is,’ she says as she holds up the strawberry for the camera. ‘Oh my God, I am going to barf. I am so disgusted right now.’
‘I don’t think I will eat berries ever again!’ one person commented.
‘Strawberry sales are about to go down,’ someone else said.
Others were more nonchalant about the situation and joked that they are getting ‘extra protein’ when they eat strawberries.
TikTok user @31toni had a similar experience when she soaked her fresh strawberries in a bowl of salt water after seeing others clean their fruit this way.
Shocked: Writer Krista Torres posted a video of herself trying out the fruit cleaning method for herself with appalling results
Disgusted: A small worm can be seen crawling across her strawberry in the clip. ‘I am going to barf,’ she says as she holds the fruit up to the camera
‘The water already looking a little bit musty,’ she says. She is inspecting the bowl when something moving in the water catches her eye.
‘Shut the f**k up. I see a bug already. I know you y’all see that,’ she exclaims. ‘That’s another one. That s**t is high-key gross. I think he is even holding a smaller bug in his hand.’
She scoops one of the bugs out of the water with a fork, noting at the end of the video that ‘there are also some other gross things in there.’
The TikTok videos inspired Lauren Gambrell to submerge her strawberries in a mixture of vinegar, water, and salt before she shared photos of her results on Facebook.
Yikes: TikTok user @31toni had a similar experience when she soaked her fresh strawberries in a bowl of salt water
Creepy crawly: One of the bugs on her strawberries appeared to be holding another bug
One down: She ends up scooping one of the bugs out of the bowl with a plastic fork, noting there are ‘other gross things’ that are still in there
‘After nearly 25 years of living, TikTok taught me how to properly wash strawberries. They are FILLED with tiny bugs and tons of dirt!!’ she wrote.
Lauren’s pictures show that her new bowl is covered in dirt — and likely bugs — from the strawberries.
‘Fuzz off the strawberries, dirt and maybe some buggies, but I wasn’t keeping the water to search for them,’ she captioned one of the images.
While many people are claiming strawberries are ‘canceled,’ they aren’t the only berries that have these bugs.
Trying it out: The TikTok videos inspired Lauren Gambrell to submerge her strawberries in a mixture of vinegar, water, and salt
Gross: Lauren’s pictures show that her new bowl is covered in dirt — and likely bugs — from the strawberries
Clean as can be? While the bugs aren’t harmful to ingest, many people were so disgusted by the footage that have sworn off strawberries forever
According to Cloud Mountain Farm Center, ‘the worms are most likely the larvae of Spotted Wing Drosophila, a non-native fruit fly that lays its eggs on just ripening berries and cherries.’
As many people pointed out in the comments, the bugs aren’t actually harmful if they’re ingested — and they’re not just found in fruit.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) actually has guidelines for the amount of bugs and mold that are allowed in produce.
‘The FDA set these action levels because it is economically impractical to grow, harvest, or process raw products that are totally free of non-hazardous, naturally occurring, unavoidable defects,’ the website explains, referring to mold, insects, and larvae, among other things.