Food Poisoning Expert Discusses The Foods He Would Never Eat

Make no mistake: Foodborne illnesses like salmonella and listeria are on the rise, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. So what can we do to protect ourselves? Unfortunately, according to experts, we might need to cut out some of our favorite and convenient food sources.  Bill Marler, food safety advocate and personal injury lawyer, has been analyzing food poisoning outbreaks for two decades and, in an interview with The Mirror, he reveals the six foods he would never  eat.

Here are the six culprits that you may want to avoid yourself:

  1. Raw oysters: Shellfish on the whole — especially raw shellfish — is particularly questionable: "I've seen more foodborne illnesses linked to shellfish in the past five years than in the two preceding decade," he told The Mirror.
  2. Prepackaged fruits and vegetables: They may seem more hygienic than the raw vegetables you'd find in the produce aisle, but "the long production line and risk of contamination owing to how much the washed, prepped and packaged items are handled" makes these foods a hazard.
  3. Raw Sprouts: Why? Too many salmonella and E. coli outbreaks have been linked to these root vegetables over the past few years.
  4. Undercooked meat: This is a typical warning. You know the drill: You can get Trichinosis from undercooked pork, and salmonella from undercooked chicken. Even medium-rare steak can be a red flag.
  5. Raw eggs: Another no-brainer, but one that Marler stresses, even though the odds of getting food poisoning from a raw egg are lower risk than it used to be.
  6. Unpasteurized milk and juice: Unpasteurized milk and juice is supposed to be more nutritious, but Marler says "skipping this safety step means an increased risk of contamination by bacteria, viruses, and parasites."