Maggots are at core of Operation Fruit Rescue
Infested apples safe to consume — even if they look unappetizing
The apple maggot doesn’t fall far from the tree. And in Edmonton, where most of the apple trees are infected, they fall a lot.
“I’ve definitely had maggots raining down on me,” said Sarah McPike, who is involved in Operation Fruit Rescue and works in pest management for the City of Edmonton.
Identified in Edmonton in 2005, the apple maggot fly, which is slightly smaller than a house fly, lays eggs in apples where maggots hatch, eating through the fruit. While no one is quite sure how it ended up here, it’s now all over the city. It can be hard to tell if an apple is infected by looking at it but not impossible, said Mike Jenkins, a biological sciences technician with the City of Edmonton.
“When the fly actually injects the egg into the apple, it will often leave a small divot-like wound in the apple,” he said. The divot is about the size of a ballpoint pen head.
The maggot then leaves a “mushy and brown” path through the apple, he said, but you won’t get sick if you eat them. “It’s perfectly safe, just kind of gross.”
McPike said when she started working with Operation Fruit Rescue, she was hoping to gather a team of volunteers to eradicate the maggot population, but soon realized it’s impossible. Now she focuses on educating the public.
“There’s a huge food source in Edmonton and we’re trying to rescue it,” she said.
By collecting the pupae and rearing them, she studies what the maggots turn into and is studying wasps that attack apple maggot flies.
Infected apples are usually the first to fall from the tree, Jenkins said, and it’s important to pick those apples up so the maggots don’t crawl into the soil. But if your apples are infected, picking them directly from the tree works too.
However, just treating your own tree won’t fix the problem. “One of the reasons it’s hard to get rid of apple maggot is because they’re obviously mobile,” McPike said. The flies can travel up to a kilometre in radius.
“Currently the best method is sanitation and getting rid of those apples right away,” Jenkins said. McPike found putting infected apples in a garbage bag and leaving them in the sun kills the maggots.
You can also take the apples out with your regular trash or take them to the Edmonton Waste Management Centre.
To learn more, email McPike at healthyfruit@operationfruitrescue.org.