And yes, this is real. This insect is the spotted wing drosophila, says Don Lewis, PhD, a professor and extension entomologist at the Iowa State University department of entomology in Ames. “It’s a very tiny fruit fly that has only been in the continental United States since 2008,” he says, an invasive insect. For thin-skinned fruits, like strawberries or raspberries, the fly pokes through just under the skin and lays her eggs there. These become larvae and grow. The saltwater treatment is a recommended method that commercial fruit growers use for quality control to see if these pests have set up shop. “For the producer, mashing up strawberries or raspberries with either a sugar or salt solution and checking for larvae is a monitoring technique used to see if their pest control is working,” says Dr. Lewis. The reason growers don’t want the bugs in there isn’t that they’re bad for you — they’re not — but because they reduce the shelf-life and storability of berries. “They don’t want the fruits to break down before they get to the consumer, and making sure they’re insect-free is the way they do that,” he says. RELATED: Strawberries Top ‘Dirty 12’ List of Contaminated Produce
The Larvae in Berries Isn’t Harmful to You (if It Is Even There)
Some perspective: Lewis is surprised anyone is finding these bugs. If you slice your strawberries, you’re not going to see little white larvae. (A good thing for your berry obsession.) For one thing, refrigeration halts their growth. “The larvae will be one-fiftieth of an inch — not even visible to the naked eye. However, if you let the fruit sit out at room temperature and allow the insects to grow for one to two weeks, they will reach three-sixteenths of an inch and be fairly visible,” says Lewis. By that time, though, the berries would be mush and probably inedible anyway. You can look at it like this: If there are bugs, you may be getting a nutritional perk. “These larvae are so microscopic that even if you ate a quart of strawberries, you’re still consuming a minuscule amount of extra protein,” says Jennie Schmidt, a registered dietitian and farmer in Sudlersville, Maryland. RELATED: 10 of the Best Plant-Based Sources of Protein
There’s No Reason to Try the Saltwater Trick Before Eating Berries
Keep eating strawberries. Continue to slice them and put them on peanut butter toast. Sit down with a big bowl of ripe berries for a snack. Halve them and toss them in a salad. Honestly, this is kind of what you signed up for by eating fruits and veggies, a habit that you should absolutely keep up. Here’s the thing: Bugs in your food may gross you out, but there’s a very real possibility that many of the things you eat every day have some bugs or bug parts in them. The FDA allows it, says Lewis, who points to the FDA’s Food Defect Levels Handbook, which the organization defines as “levels of natural or unavoidable defects in foods that present no health hazards for humans.” In some of your food are bug parts and mouse hairs. A couple of fun facts: “Canned tomatoes can average up to 10 fly eggs and be acceptable. A cup of frozen spinach can contain up to 50 bug pieces. Fruit fly larvae in strawberries is another in a long list of things that can happen because food is grown in the real world,” says Lewis. Schmidt grows wine grapes and says that a common pest is the grape berry moth. For vineyards that have these pests, the insects may be present when the grapes are pressed. That means that, yes, your wine may have some “bug juice” in it. “You can go a lot of places [with this issue] that gross people out, but it’s just nature. It’s something we deal with no matter if it’s a small, large, organic, or nonorganic farm,” says Schmidt. To rid berries and other fruits (and any produce, really) of all insects, farmers would have to spray them constantly with pesticides, which is unappealing for both farmers and consumers, she says. What’s more, synthetic pesticides may be more effective against this insect, explains Lewis. Pesticides used on organic farms may need to be applied more often, may not work as well, and are generally more expensive. The decision whether to eat conventional or organic produce is yours, but there are trade-offs for each choice. RELATED: The Healthiest Power Fruits Next Door
How to Prepare Your Produce to Make It Safe to Eat
When you’re at home, don’t soak your berries in salt water to try to get larvae out — it might make them taste pretty bad. Instead, check the fruit and cut out any exterior damage or deterioration before eating it. Cleaning your produce is always a good idea to both get rid of pesticide residue and any germs from people touching it at the grocery store. Just rinse it under running water, says Schmidt. According to the USDA, this is fine for most produce. If yours has a firm surface, like an apple, you can also consider scrubbing it with a brush. “To me, people don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables, period,” says Schmidt. Indeed, only 1 in 10 American adults consumes the recommended 1½ to 2 cups per day of fruit and 2 to 3 cups per day of veggies, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). These poor eating habits leave people more prone to chronic diseases, which make up 7 of the 10 leading causes of death in the United States, notes the CDC. “As gross as it might be to someone,” Schmidt adds, “if you pull a carrot out of the soil and eat it, it will have microscopic insects. Healthy soil has an abundance of bacterial life and fungi. It doesn’t make it bad for you.”
