Not necessarily. If you soaked fresh berries (especially raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, or cherries) in salt water and saw tiny white worms or larvae come out, they are often the larvae of small fruit flies, such as the spotted-wing drosophila or related fruit flies that lay eggs in ripening fruit.
This can be unpleasant, but it doesn’t automatically mean you need to throw the berries away.
Here’s what you can do:
- Inspect the berries. If they’re firm, not moldy, and don’t have an off smell, they may still be usable.
- Rinse them thoroughly under clean running water after the salt-water soak.
- Discard any berries that are moldy, mushy, or badly damaged.
The larvae themselves are not generally considered harmful if accidentally eaten, though most people understandably prefer not to eat them.
To reduce the chance of this happening in the future:
- Refrigerate berries soon after buying or picking them.
- Wash them just before eating rather than before storage (unless you’re using a method that dries them thoroughly afterward).
- Buy from suppliers with good produce handling practices when possible.
If you found large numbers of larvae, or the berries are already deteriorating or moldy, it’s reasonable to discard them. Otherwise, after removing any visible larvae and rinsing well, many people choose to keep and eat the berries.
