The 'Strawberry Challenge': TikTok users are extracting tiny bugs from fruit with saltwater, freaking out
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TikTok users are freaking out over a video that purports to show bugs squirming out of strawberries — which, admittedly, is a little freaky-sounding.
It’s not just one video, either. As is the case these days, such viral videos birth entirely new trends and challenges, prompting TikTokkers across the platform to try to replicate the phenomenon by submerging their own fresh strawberries in a bowl of saltwater.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The trend appeared to start last week, after users identifying as shaynes_world and babyadrianne claimed the method resulted in bugs emerging from her strawberries following a salty soak.
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Other users began following their lead, tagging their efforts with #StrawberriesWithBugs, or #StrawberryChallenge. Many produced similar results, with one woman even declaring she found “worms” in her batch.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}@callmekristatorres WAIT FOR IT... Still trying to think happy thoughts today. ##fyp ##foryou ##strawberrieswithbugs ##bugsinstrawberries ##rednoseday ##got2bhome
♬ original sound - callmekristatorres
@queennheatherr I guess there’s worse but it’s still so gross🤢 ##strawberrieswithbugs ##strawberrycleaning ##strawberrychallenge ##fyp ##bugs
♬ original sound - shaynes_world
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Still, some observed no such bugs in their strawberries after taking the “challenge,” but that doesn’t necessarily mean the above TikTok users were fibbing. In fact, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA,) some insect larvae and drosophila flies are considered “unavoidable defects” in certain fruits and vegetable products, though not superficially in strawberries. The FDA has said, however, that these common bugs or bug larvae found in such produce present no health hazards, if consumed.
TikTok is losing it over buggy strawberries, but the common drosophila fruit fly doesn't pose a health hazard, the FDA says. (iStock)
As noted by the New York Post, the folks at the Cloud Mountain Farm Center — a “teaching farm” in Washington State — add that droposhila flies sometimes “sting” strawberries or cherries and lay their eggs inside the fruit, leaving the larvae to eventually “exit the fruit to pupate.” Again, they say the bugs “will not hurt you.”
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If those little strawberry-loving bugs are still freaking you out, however, you may want to steer clear of figs altogether.