Are There Worms in Your Strawberries?

A video of bugs coming out of strawberries submerged in saltwater became a viral sensation on TikTok. The video raised a lot of questions, including: What are these wormy bugs? Why are they crawling out of strawberries, and is fresh fruit safe to consume?

The bugs are technically a type of fly maggot that infest ripe berries and go unnoticed because they feed on the berries from the inside. However, you won't find worms in all strawberries; if you do, washing your fruit may only eliminate a few of the worms. Here's what else you need to know.

Why Are Bugs in Berries?

Strawberry and small fruit crop entomologist Sriyanka Lahiri, PhD, an assistant professor at the University of Florida, told Health that the tiny whitish worms are the maggots of a fly, commonly known as spotted wing drosophila (SWD). "It's an invasive species from East Asia that infests berry crops and has been in the USA since 2008," explained Lahiri.

The SWD is attracted to yeast and sugar water solution, which is used as a monitoring device in berry production, said Lahiri. Also, what sets the SWD fly apart from the common fruit fly is its ability to lay eggs inside undamaged ripe berry fruits. The SWD fly has a serrated egg-laying device called an ovipositor.

After the female SWD lays eggs inside ripening fruit, the eggs will hatch, allowing the maggots to feed on the fruit. As a result, they can go undetected and sometimes make fruit unsellable.

In addition to strawberries, SWD is a common pest for blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, and cherries. While most berry crops are susceptible to SWD, this doesn't mean all berries—strawberries included—are hosts for SWD.

How Common Is It?

There isn't an exact or estimated percentage of how often worms are found in strawberries, but the occurrence is common enough. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has contamination guidelines for each type of food—including how many bugs or how much mold is allowed to be inside the foods. However, there doesn't seem to be anything on the FDA website concerning bugs inside strawberries.

What Other Types of Bugs Are in Berries?

In addition to the SWD fly and its maggots, several other pests can be found in strawberries and other berries. Pests that can cause damage to berry plants and fruits can include:

  • Aphids, which are soft-bodied insects that commonly feed on plants, including berry crops
  • Armyworms, caterpillar pests that are the larvae of a moth
  • Lygus bugs, bugs less than half an inch and are brown, green, or yellow
  • Mites, a microscopic arachnid (the same classification as ticks and spiders)
  • Seed bugs, brown, six-legged bugs with long antenna
  • Thrips, which are small slender-winged insects
  • Weevils, insects with a snout-looking mouthpiece
  • Whiteflies, small white bugs with wings

How Do You Prevent Bugs in Berries?

Nothing can be done after the SWD eggs have been laid inside the ripe, undamaged fruit. As a result, pest management focuses on monitoring and preventative control tactics to get rid of the adult flies. Management recommendations vary depending on the type of infestation but often involve clearing away infested plants and using insecticides to protect the fruit, as necessary.

"The goal is not to let the females lay eggs on the fruit," said Lahiri. "Timely picking of ripe fruits, removal of rotting fruits, and burial of damaged fruits are good cultural practices to control SWD because these flies are attracted to a fermenting fruity smell."

Also, an excessive amount of pesticides would be needed to follow a zero maggot/grub tolerance policy in food, "which is neither environmentally friendly nor beneficial for human health," explained Lahiri. "Having pesticide residue on our food versus having to ingest some extra animal protein can be considered as a fair trade-off."

The bulletin on SWD management said to monitor fields with traps and check the traps weekly, starting from the development of fruit until the end of harvest. If SWD is detected, the recommended management strategies include:

  • Cultural control methods, such as pruning
  • Harvest interval decreases
  • Leftover fruit removal to keep the plant clean
  • Use of exclusion netting to physically block pests from fruit
  • Use of insecticides (National Organic Program compliant for organic fruits) as needed

How Do You Remove Bugs From Strawberries?

Lahiri strongly recommended washing strawberries—and all other fresh fruits and vegetables—before eating them. However, since the maggots live deep inside the fruit, washing won't get rid of them entirely.

"Staying submerged in water might force a few of them out," said Lahiri. Incidentally, Lahiri isn't aware of any benefits of adding salt to the water like in the TikTok video, though Lahiri hasn't conducted any research to that end. "Also, I am not sure the fresh strawberry taste will remain the same after being submerged in saltwater for too long," added Lahiri.

Are There Any Health Risks if You Eat the Bugs?

There's no proof that consuming a few maggots with your fruit has any negative health effects—and people have probably been doing it for centuries. "Although the sight of translucent worms crawling out of a fresh strawberry fruit might not be appealing, there are no known ill effects of eating them," said Lahiri. "In fact, if you accidentally consumed some maggots, all you did was get some extra animal protein in your salad or fruit shake."

A Quick Review

It is common for bugs to make their way into fruits. However, that doesn't mean bugs in fruit will harm you; there is no evidence that worms in strawberries have any negative impact on your health. The reality is that in most cases, fresh market produce and stored grains have some amount of insect infestation that is impossible to get rid of. Yet, preventative measures can help reduce bugs in produce.

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5 Sources
Health.com uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
  1. U.S. Department of Agriculture National Invasive Species Information Center. Spotted wing drosophila.

  2. Homem R, Mateos-Fierro Z, Jones R, et al. Field suppression of spotted wing drosophila (SWD) (Drosophila suzukii Matsumura) using the sterile insect technique (SIT)Insects. 2022;13(4):328. doi:10.3390/insects13040328

  3. UGA Cooperative Extension Bulletin 1497. Management recommendations for spotted wing drosophila in organic berry crops.

  4. US Food and Drug Administration. Food defect levels handbook.

  5. Lahiri S, Smith HA, Gireesh M, Kaur G, Montemayor JD. Arthropod pest management in strawberryInsects. 2022;13(5):475. doi:10.3390/insects13050475

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