Help! I Found Maggots and May Have Made a Mistake!

It wasnt maggots. Maggots eat dead meat. Dont panic. Everything is fine. You even overkilled with the boiling water :)

Good grief. All is fine. No you will not grow maggots on your body, unless you are decomposing.

And no the maggots are now long gone in the sewage if you did all of that in your garbage disposal. Dd you even put the pits down there? I am not familiar with a garbage disposal that can handle these. What brand is it?

I promise, you are all safe.

Fruit flies at any developmental stage are only able to eat fruit, not meat. (Some, but not all, larger flies have meat-eating larvae, but they don't eat living flesh, only rotting meat.) You are entirely safe from personal infestation. And now that you have removed all the food the flies wanted, they have no further reason to be in your house.

Fruit flies are really no big deal, and it's really not necessary to give up fruit in the house. They are not a health risk, even if you eat them, and don't carry any diseases. (Yes, it does give a shudder to think of eating them by accident, but I'm sure we all have many times, and I figure they just add a bit of extra protein.)

They are common at the end of summer and early fall, and can be trapped by putting a couple of shallow cups of any sweet liquor around your kitchen, especially where you might have fruit or vegetables sitting out. Add a drop of dish soap to the liquor to help wet them down when they fall in. Some people use cider vinegar, but I find the liquor much more attractive to them.

Fruit fly larvae eat fruit, not human flesh. Since you washed your hands, I wouldn't worry any further. Also - they do not reproduce directly - they mature into fruit flies so, no they will not multiply in your garbage disposal. Everything will be just fine. Yes - it's gross - but that's about it.

Relax. They are long gone and in the sewer system by now. Whatever you may have touched was washed off with soap and water. You probably would have been just fine simply throwing them in the garbage, but I usually put them in a plastic shopping bag and tie them up before putting them in the garbage. That's really just because I don't want them to smell.

Really, fruit flies can find fruit in just a couple of days, so it's so easy to get fruit flies. You're fine.

Ditto all the advice about having done everything A OK...

I do have a similar and funny story to share. Many years ago our family moved from SoCalif to Portland, OR. We lived next to Cherry Street which was lined with Cherry trees. I was sooo excited I ran out and picked a huge bowl full of cherries to make cherry pie. It took me hours to make the crusts and pit the cherries. A boy from across the street came over to visit through the kitchen window while I cooked away. We both were starting the 9th grade in a few weeks. Right when I was about to the place the home made cherry pies into the oven, I noticed small, white, wiggly things floating on top of the fruit. I was dumbfounded. I picked one up, eyed it carefully, showed it to my neighbor and he knew that they were fruit maggots. What are those? Ah, kids eat them all the time by accident when picking and eating really ripe fruit from the trees. So, I decided to pick out as many as I could for a few minutes then bake the rest as it only would provide some added protein to the pies.

The following night as I served our entire family my specially hand-picked, home made cherry pies and everyone was finishing their plates, my college age brother made this 'gruesome' finding in his pie as a joke. He had overheard my conversation from the night before and after our family of 9 relaxed and calmed down and stopped being fairly grossed out, the family teases me to this day about what I am sneaking into the food these days.

BTW, I now sneak shredded carrots into about everything. Or a roasted root vegetable powder I find at the Korean store.

GL! You're fine!

First, calm down!!! I would say you did everything just fine. I would have probably done the same thing.

If you're still worried, I would put a little baking soda down the drain and turn on the disposal and run it with hot water for a few minutes.

I would definitely throw out ALL the fruit that was in the bowl - whether it all looked spoiled or not. And don't worry - they're not getting under your skin!!

Wash the bowl in the dishwasher or with very hot soapy water and it will be fine.

I live out in the country and deal with a lot of bugs - all kinds - so I'm used to it.

Good luck!!!

In past times doctors used maggots to help heal people. They eat dead tissue but not healthy tissue. They actually help injuries heal faster. Still gross I know. They would scoop some up on a piece of gauze and put that directly on the wound. Then wrap the area for a while. Then when they removed the gauze they would just rinse the area off and when infection or some other debris was noticed they would put fresh ones on again.

The pits will ruin your disposal. Reach down in there when it is turned OFF...lol and scoop the pits out.

Otherwise you are fine.

Your sink won't be infested and neither will your skin. They're down the drain and in the sewer by now. However, if you put peaches down your sink, you now have peach pits in your garbage disposal which mean you have to shut off the electrical ... stuff ... to that wall and reach into the drain and get the pits out before you run your garbage disposal.

Take a deep breath and relax. They won't get into your skin like that and as long as you run water they will just go down the drain.