Viral TikTok avocado hack can make you seriously ill: FDA

Lawyer-don’t try this at home.

According to the Food and Drug Administration, a viral TikTok hack showing how to keep avocados fresh for weeks using water and refrigeration may actually breed salmonella along with other harmful bacteria.

The once-easy (and now nauseating) trick was demonstrated on TikTok by user @shamamamahealing, who posted a two-week-old avocado that didn’t turn into its usual brown-black mush.

The mother-of-four boasted that the ‘magical’ method of storing unopened fruit in a container of water could make it last ‘in the fridge for up to a month’.

But the FDA says don’t put these water-cooled cados in your guac.

“The FDA does not recommend this practice,” an agency spokesperson told Newsweek..

“The main concern is the possibility that any residual human pathogens (i.e. Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella spp, etc.) that may reside on the surface of the avocado could potentially multiply during storage when it is submerged in water.”

The agency has also done its own testing and the avocados are coming back in worse shape, despite keeping their green appearance.

“Additionally, research by FDA scientists has shown that Listeria monocytogenes has the potential to infiltrate and internalize the pulp of avocados when immersed in refrigerated dump tanks within 15 days. during refrigerated storage. In this case, even surface disinfection of the avocado skin before slicing would not be able to remove the contamination. »

In studying 1,615 avocados, the FDA found Listeria monocytogenes — a bacteria particularly harmful to pregnant women, the elderly, and people with weakened immune systems — in 17.73% of the study sample, according to Newsweek.

Submerging them in water for long periods of time exacerbates the chances of bacteria multiplying, the outlet added.