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Preserving climacteric fruits like avocados that have a tendency to go bad in the blink of an eye is a whole ordeal. In a bid to save their expensive fruits and keep them ripe for prolonged periods of time, many turned to a viral TikTok hack that promised to do just that.
According to the trending tip, submerging one's whole avocados in water and refrigerating them can keep them fresh for up to two weeks, or even a month. However, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warns that this viral hack that seems like a heavenly boon does more harm than good.
FDA warns that the viral avocado hack on TikTok is not safe
The hack was originally posted by TikTok creator ShamaMama Healing (@shamamamahealing) on March 2. It has gone viral on the social media platform since then, garnering over 6.2 million views and 168.2k likes. Deemed to be "avocado magic," the hack promises to keep the fruit fresh for up to a month.
The clip shows the end result of the TikToker's experiment of storing the fruit in water in the fridge for two weeks. The insides of the fruit emerged to be perfectly ripe and green. Replying to a comment asking for explicit instructions on how to emulate the hack, the creator wrote:
"Just buy them and put them in a container and cover with water and put in the fridge."
Alhough several people rallied behind the success of the hack, the FDA issued a warning highlighting the risks it entails, in light of its rising popularity. The organisation told Today:
"The FDA does not recommend this practice. The main concern is with the possibility that any residual human pathogens (i.e. Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella spp, etc.) that may be residing on the avocado surface may potentially multiply during the storage when submerged in water."
A research study conducted by the FDA in 2018 took a sample of 1,615 avocados and found that 17.73% showed prevalence for the presence of Listeria monocytogenes contamination on their skins. The study also detected salmonella in 12 skin samples from domestically grown products.
This is why the government already recommends washing the outside of the produce first to wash off all the bacteria and prevent transfer from the skin to the knife, even if one plans to peel the skin off.
The FDA added that storing the produce in water for longer than two weeks involves an added risk factor:
"In addition, research performed by FDA scientists has shown that Listeria monocytogenes has the potential to infiltrate and internalize into the pulp of [the produce] when submerged in refrigerated dump tanks within 15 days during refrigerated storage. In this case, even surface disinfecting the avocado skin prior to slicing would not be able to remove the contamination."
Alternative to the hack
A safer alternative to submerging the fruit in water is simply refrigerating it, which yields almost similar results as shown in the YouTube video above. The channel 'How To Cook That' contrasted the cut-open insides of produce that had simply been refrigerated for 14 days with produce that had been left on countertops at room temperature. The former won by a landslide, and preserved the ripe green interior of the fruit.
