A recent viral video trend led to a “deeply disturbing” outcome for Tiktok user Rebecca Torres (@thatbeccagirl on Tiktok). Multiple TikTok videos recently posted to the platform have gained millions of views advising users to soak their strawberries and other produce in saltwater in order to kill any bugs or mites that may be living inside.
Of course, Torres was a little skeptical at first, assuming it was just another TikTok trend. Still, the thought of consuming mites and bugs unknowingly was a little frightening, so she decided to investigate further and take on the challenge herself. And as she revealed, the results were horrific.
Torres ended up posting the results of her experiment to her own TikTok. Needless to say, the video was quite disturbing. In her video, Torres dissolves some salt in a bowl of water, and empties a container of strawberries into the bowl. Following that, Torres shared with her viewers that the key is to let the strawberries soak in the saltwater for about 10 minutes. Then, like a science experiment gone wrong, she watched as long, thin, worm-like insects began to emerge from the strawberries!
A closeup on the insects revealed that they were long, tubular, segmented worms with a distinct and unmistakeable head. Torres was rightfully horrified at her discovery, exclaiming, “Are those f****** tapeworms?”
Torres shows herself packing the newly de-wormed strawberries and their former residents into a plastic container, and cuts to a clip of her in what appears to be a laboratory with a researcher wearing a mask. The unidentified researcher explains his findings to Torres and her camera from his microscope. The bugs that came out of her berries were indeed tapeworms, says the researcher.
He explains that strawberries and other produce which are not processed according to FDA food safety standards after harvest may contain tapeworm larvae, and that if the grocery store that receives that produce does not quarantine their new stock, the tapeworms may mature inside the fruit and make it onto the shelves. The researcher says that soaking your fruit in salt water may remove some of the tapeworms, but he recommends that consumers either discard the affected fruit or freeze it for a minimum of 14 days.
Torres ends the video by claiming that she will “sue this f****** strawberry company!”, but no further evidence of such a lawsuit has been found. While we may never know how Torres’ story concludes, many of us will never be able to look at the strawberry the same
again!