Food safety experts avoid very specific meal choices due to contamination risks

Even foods most Americans consider “healthy” can pose serious foodborne illness risks, experts warn — and several say salads, sprouts and deli meats are among the everyday items they personally refuse to eat.

One Seattle attorney who has spent decades litigating some of the country’s worst foodborne illness outbreaks recently told The Washington Post that his well-done burger and steak order has prompted chefs to come out and ask what’s wrong with him.

“I explain what I do for a living,” Bill Marler told the outlet. “It’s an occupational hazard.”

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He said he no longer touches bagged salads, fruit cups or trays, deli meats, ready-to-eat meals and raw sprouts — which are often served raw on sandwiches, salads and wraps.

He said the items have been repeatedly tied to cross-contamination and major Listeria, E. coli and Salmonella outbreaks.

The lettuce on your burger might be the real culprit. (iStock)

While most diners view greens as a safe choice, Marler said he avoids them entirely when eating out.

Fox News Digital reached out to Marler for further comment — but several other experts said they agree. They added that the riskiest foods to eat may not be the ones consumers expect.

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The list of problematic items reflects how outbreak patterns have shifted over time, Bryan Quoc Le, a food scientist with Mendocino Food Consulting in California, told Fox News Digital.

“Ground beef risks have decreased due to testing and cooking requirements, while leafy greens lack a ‘heat step’ and are known to become contaminated earlier in the supply chain, where controls are harder to enforce,” Le said.

Sprouts are grown in warm, moist environments that allow bacteria to thrive. (iStock)

Leafy greens are also centrally processed, mixed in huge batches and shipped across the country. 

That likely makes them the highest current risk, he noted. “A single contamination event can affect many people before it’s detected,” he said.

In the 1990s, hamburgers were seen as the biggest food safety threat, especially after a 1993 E. coli outbreak sent more than 170 people to the hospital and killed four children. 

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But after stricter regulations and major safety improvements, illnesses linked to burgers dropped sharply, according to Jason Reese, an Indiana-based food safety expert and personal injury attorney who specializes in these cases.

Today, Reese noted, the danger has flipped. Lettuce and other leafy greens now cause far more outbreaks than hamburgers, largely because they’re grown near cattle operations, can be contaminated by irrigation water and are eaten raw with no cooking steps to kill pathogens. 

“The lettuce on top of those burgers is the culprit,” Reese told Fox News Digital.

Sprouts, salads and deli meats have been repeatedly linked to major outbreaks of E. coli, Salmonella and Listeria. (iStock)

He said he never eats salad or bagged lettuce while dining out. 

“Seeing the victims I’ve represented go into kidney failure and need dialysis for life just from one restaurant salad is eye-opening.”

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“Most Americans don’t seem to think it will happen to them,” Reese added. “Yet the numbers don’t lie.”

About 48 million Americans get sick from foodborne illnesses each year — roughly 1 in 6 people — according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), leading to an estimated 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths. 

“Most Americans are completely clueless about what happens to their food before it gets to their plates.”

The agency notes the U.S. food supply remains among the world’s safest, yet produce accounts for a significant share of cases, particularly norovirus, the nation’s leading foodborne illness.

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The risk for young children, pregnant women, the elderly and immunocompromised people, is especially not “worth the gamble,” he said. 

About 48 million Americans get sick from foodborne illnesses each year, according to the CDC. (iStock)

New Jersey dietitian and former food safety inspector Tina Marinaccio agreed.

“Most Americans are completely clueless about what happens to their food before it gets to their plates,” she told Fox News Digital.

But Marinaccio disagreed with Marler’s opinion that steaks must be cooked well-done. 

“If you’re not immunocompromised or pregnant, get the rare steak,” she said.

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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.

Even foods considered “healthy” can carry risks of foodborne illness. (iStock)

Despite the dangers, experts stress that many foodborne illnesses are preventable. 

Marinaccio said proper handwashing and better glove training are essential, as poor hygiene is one of the most common sources of contamination. 

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Le added that fully cooking meats, treating bagged salads as higher-risk foods and cutting produce at home can significantly reduce the chances of getting sick.