Even foods most Americans consider “healthy” can pose serious risks of foodborne illness, experts warn — and many say salads, sprouts and deli meats are among the everyday items they personally refuse to eat.
A Seattle lawyer who has spent decades litigating some of the country’s worst foodborne illness outbreaks recently told The Washington Post that his well-made order of burgers and steaks prompted chefs to come out and ask what was wrong with him.
“I’ll tell you what I do for a living,” Bill Marler told the press. “It’s an occupational hazard.”
He said he no longer touches bagged salads, fruit cups or trays, deli foods, ready-to-eat meals and raw kale — which are often served raw on sandwiches, salads and wraps.
He said the items have repeatedly been linked to cross-contamination and major outbreaks of Listeria, E. coli and Salmonella.
While most diners consider greens a safe choice, Marler said she avoids them entirely when dining out.
Fox News Digital reached out to Marler for further comment, but other experts said they agreed. They added that the riskiest foods to eat may not be what consumers expect.
The list of problematic items reflects how outbreak patterns have changed over time, Bryan Quoc Le, a food scientist at Mendocino Food Consulting in California, told Fox News Digital.
Seattle attorney Bill Marler and other experts warn that “healthy” foods like salads pose serious risks of foodborne illness. Robert – stock.adobe.com
Food safety threats have shifted from the hamburgers of the 1990s to green leafy vegetables, which lack a “heat step” and are often contaminated. Victor Moussa – stock.adobe.com
“The risks of ground beef have decreased due to testing and cooking requirements, while leafy greens do not have a ‘heat step’ and are known to be contaminated earlier in the supply chain where controls are harder to enforce,” Le said.
Leafy greens are also processed centrally, blended in huge batches and shipped across the country.
That makes them probably the biggest current risk, he noted. “A single contamination event can affect many people before it is detected,” he said.
In the 1990s, hamburgers were seen as the biggest threat to food safety, especially after an E. coli outbreak in 1993 sent more than 170 people to the hospital and killed four children.
Jason Reese, a food safety expert in Indiana, notes that the lettuce on the burgers is now to blame for the outbreak. Tricky Shark – stock.adobe.com
But after tighter regulations and major safety improvements, burger-related illnesses have plummeted, according to Jason Reese, an Indiana food safety expert and personal injury attorney.
Today, Reese noted, the danger has been reversed. Lettuce and other leafy greens now cause far more outbreaks than hamburgers, largely because they are grown near cattle farms, can be contaminated with irrigation water, and are eaten raw without cooking steps to kill pathogens.
“The lettuce on top of these burgers is to blame,” Reese said on Fox News Digital.
He said he never eats lettuce or bagged lettuce while dining out.
“Seeing victims I’ve represented go into kidney failure and need dialysis for life just from a restaurant salad is amazing.”
“Most Americans don’t seem to think it’s going to happen to them,” Reese added. “The numbers don’t lie, though.”
About 48 million Americans get sick from foodborne illness each year—about 1 in 6 people—according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), resulting in about 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths.
About 48 million Americans contract foodborne illnesses each year, resulting in 3,000 deaths. Cavan – stock.adobe.com
The agency notes that the U.S. food supply remains among the safest in the world, yet produce accounts for a significant portion of cases, particularly norovirus, the nation’s leading foodborne illness.
The risk to young children, pregnant women, the elderly and the immunocompromised in particular is “not worth the gamble,” he said.
New Jersey dietitian and former food safety inspector Tina Marinaccio agreed.
“Most Americans have no idea what happens to their food before it reaches their plate,” she told Fox News Digital.
But Marinaccio disagreed with Marler’s opinion that steaks should be cooked well done.
“Unless you’re immunocompromised or pregnant, go for the rare steak,” she said.
Experts recommend proper hand washing, cooking meat thoroughly and cutting produce at home to prevent illness. .shock – stock.adobe.com
E. coli would be killed on the surface during normal cooking, she said.
She added that the real concern is ground beef, where bacteria can be mixed throughout the meat and must reach 160 degrees Fahrenheit to be safe.
Despite the dangers, experts point out that many foodborne illnesses are preventable.
Marinaccio said proper hand washing and better glove preparation are essential because poor hygiene is one of the most common sources of contamination.
Le added that cooking meat thoroughly, treating bagged salads as higher-risk foods and cutting up produce at home can significantly reduce the chances of getting sick.