TikTok viral avocado hack could make you seriously ill: FDA

Avoca-no Try this at home.

According to the Food and Drug Administration, a TikTok viral hack that shows how to keep avocados fresh for weeks using water and refrigeration can actually cause salmonella to multiply along with other harmful bacteria.

The easy (and now messy) trick was demonstrated on TikTok by user @shamamamahaling, who offered a two-week-old avocado that hadn’t turned into its usual dark brown sticky substance.

The mother of four boasted that the “magical” way to store unopened fruit in a container of water can stay “in the fridge for up to a month.”

But the FDA says don’t put these water-cooled caduceus in your guise.

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

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

The agency also ran its own tests and the avocado came back in worse shape, despite maintaining its tough green appearance.

Additionally, research by FDA scientists has shown that Listeria monocytogenes has the ability to infiltrate and assimilate into avocado pulp when submerged in refrigerated vacuum tanks within 15 days during refrigerated storage. In this case, even sterilizing the surface of the avocado’s skin before slicing it will not be able to remove the contamination.”

By studying 1,615 avocados, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found Listeria monocytogenes — a bacteria particularly harmful to pregnant women, the elderly, and those with compromised immune systems — in 17.73% of the study sample, according to Newsweek.

The outlet added that immersing it in water for long periods exacerbates the chances of bacteria multiplication.