Rats in the strawberry patch

Hello!

Our strawberry patch this year has been very fruitful but unfortunately we recently spotted a rat running from it. Obviously, rats carry a bunch of diseases and it's likely there's some contamination there. I've looked into whether we can eat the strawberries or not but there's been little information. It seems a shame to waste such a good crop! We turn a lot of our produce into jam or wines so I'm wondering if we wash them thoroughly and then boil them for jam is this would be good enough to eat.

Do any of you have any advice about leaving them as bad or turning them into jam (or just washing them and eating them?)

Thanks!

 

If you had not noticed the rat, what would you do.

Who knows what runs around out food crops at night and when we are not watching, but will still eat them.
I know rats are not great to have around, but as long as the fruit is untouched and in tact I'd not be bothered especially if they are going to be cooked.
Just wash those you eat raw.

 

You could always buy your fruit/veg from shops

You’d be nuts to buy these! Mouse spotted scoffing cashews in Lidl container

Aldi customer finds half a rat in packet of frozen vegetables

Aldi customer finds live rat inside sealed packet of plums in Rochdale | Metro News


Aldi recalls 38,000 bags of frozen veg after 'half a rat' found

Tesco worker almost dies after rat urine drips on his face at supermarket depot and he contracts deadly Weil's disease

Etc.

 

They get everywhere just make sure you wash everything thoroughly and you will be fine,

 

Agree, rats, mice and other potentially pest- carrying animals run around our edibles all the time. It's just that we rarely see them. They also run around in commercial fields, so unless a strawberry is grown in a clinically clean pest controlled greenhouse it will very likely have been touched by a rat/mouse/whatnot.

Dangerous contamination from animals is rare. There are the bird- and swine flu scares where a virus is transmitted from domestic animals to human who has no defense against the mutant virus, but apart from that the risk of animals contaminating food crops is very small. Birds with potential salmonella pooing on fruit is probably the highest.

The YUK!!!- factor can't however be excluded, if someone hates the thought of eating food touched by an animal the feeling can be very strong. I personally do NOT eat anything touched by a slug and have abandoned a wonderful pasta dish in Italy because my husband remarked that the pasta shape looked like grubs.

 

That wasn't a rat @martin-f , it was a hamster called Basil.

 

I have a wild rat colony in my garden of a dozen or so rats. They have been here six years. I feed them along with everyone else who lives here. Some of the younger rats will take food from my fingers. We have not suffered any ill effects from close contact to them. You could always offer the rats some clotted cream to go with their strawberries

 

@salfelmb
I would simply wash and use as normal, discarding any obviously spoilt. As for the rats unless they're coming into the house or outbuildings I'd leave'm be.

 

As i've worked which grain for many years, you always see rats and mice in some grain stores, if you have seen some of the things that go on you wouldn't eat bread again

As sayed above wash and discard any with bite marks