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That’s enough to scare you off strawberries for life! Stomach-chucking microscopic images reveal the creepy critters hiding in your fruit
- When shown under a microscope, numerous tiny mites were seen on the fruit
- Strawberry mites and spider mites usually live on the surface of the fruit
- While they can be horrifying, it’s widely believed that they won’t harm you
Only eat your strawberries? Think again.
Stomach-pumping images have glimpsed the creepy critters lurking in your fruit.
Twitter exploded this week after users saw the horrifying moment when a strawberry was examined under a microscope.
The close-up of just one side of the fruit showed numerous tiny mites squirming around the surface.
The user who shared it said, “Are you having a good day today?” I’m sorry I screwed up by posting this video of a strawberry under a microscope.”
When viewed under a microscope, they saw numerous tiny mites squirming all over the fruit
Strawberry mites and spider mites commonly live on the surface of this fruit. While they can be horrifying, it’s widely believed that they won’t harm you
Watching the video, numerous commenters said they would think twice about eating unwashed strawberries again.
One user said “Sometimes I convince myself I can eat a single piece of fruit before I wash it and uhh yeah this just screwed up I now have flashbacks of every time I ate a strawberry before I washed it and I want to cry .’
Another added, “This is why you wash your food!”
While horrifying, consuming these bugs is widely believed to be harmless.
Greg Loeb, an entomologist and professor at Cornell University previously told CNN: ‘If you eat fresh products, you eat insects.
“But the real point is that there are organisms on your fruit and even if it makes people uncomfortable, it certainly won’t hurt them.” You don’t get sick from eating those critters.’
Among the insects are the aptly named strawberry mites – only pests ever found on strawberries.
At just 0.25mm, these critters often look like water droplets under the microscope as they curl up inside the leaves, according to Fishermen.
Spider mites are also often one of the most common insects to infest strawberry plants turning the leaves brown when feeding on their undersides.
Growing strawberries at a high temperature in overcrowded greenhouses can increase the chance of a serious pest infestation, potentially leading to plant death.
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 seemed to be holding onto another bug
That’s the reason The Royal Horticultural Society advises to water plants regularly to combat this.
Pesticides can also be considered as another option to deal with pests.
The video comes after a 2020 strawberry washing trend went viral on TikTok as many realized that tiny worms and bugs crawl out of fruits when soaked in water.
For those in the US, it was argued that the worms were most likely “the larvae of Spotted Wing Drosophila,” according to the Cloud Mountain farm center.
These would lay their eggs on fruits such as strawberries, cherries and blueberries before the larvae crawl out from the inside.