We address the production of strangelets inside neutron stars by means of h
igh-energy neutrino interactions (sparking). Requiring that neutron stars r
emain as such along their lifetimes, we obtain a bound on the probability o
f a strangelet in the final state and compare it with existing laboratory l
imits. It turns out that this mechanism is not likely to drive a neutron-->
strange stars conversion for realistic values of the minimum center-mass-en
ergy necessary to produce the quark-gluon plasma, a necessary precondition
for the formation of the strangelet. [S0556-2821(99)01602-1].