Remember Bridesmaids and that scene where Kristen Wiig gives everyone food poisoning and Maya Rudolph poops in the street? It's iconic, but also an apt reminder that food poisoning is terrible and hard to avoid. But one food poisoning expert has avoided it … simply by quitting certain foods altogether.
The food poisoning expert in question is Bill Marler, an attorney who's won more than $600 million for clients in food-borne illness cases. He's currently bringing suits against Chipotle after all the outbreaks of salmonella, E. coli, and norovirus in their food.
After all this, Marler won't even touch certain foods because the risk is too great and food poisoning too miserable. Here are the foods he avoids … and he kind of has us thinking we should steer clear of them, too.
Image via Lisovskaya Natalia/Shutterstock
Unpasteurized Milk and Unpasteurized Packaged Juices
There's been a trend lately advocating in favor of the extra nutrients unpasteurized (or raw) milk and juice provides, but Marler says that 148 food poisoning outbreaks between 1998 and 2011 is no joke, especially when so few people are consuming these to begin with. He says pasteurization is a safety step, and one that's totally necessary.
Raw Sprouts
Though we usually can blame meat and animal products for salmonella outbreaks, sprouts — which sent 19 people to the hospital in 2014 alone — are by far the most dangerous vegetable. They're fine after they're cooked, but any kind of sprout (alfafa, broccoli, radish, whatever) in its raw form can carry bacteria in its seeds.
Rare or Undercooked Meat
Raw meat can obviously be pretty dangerous, but Marler says he's especially wary of rare burgers because with ground meat, any bacteria on the outside is going to get ground in to the middle and left uncooked if your burger is rare.
Steaks can also be dangerous because needle tenderizing (that's when restaurants pierce steaks with needles to break down the muscle fiber and make them more tender) also pushes bacterias and bugs (ew) deep into the meat.
Pre-washed or Pre-cut Fruits and Vegetables
Pre-cut fruits and vegetables are popular because of pure convenience, but Marler steers clear. The more food is touched and handled before it gets to your plate, the more chance it has of picking up bacteria and making you sick.
More from The Stir: Don't Eat That — Until You Test Your Food Safety Smarts (TRIVIA)
Raw or Undercooked Eggs
The salmonella outbreak in the late '80s and early '90s was awful enough that Marler swore off raw eggs forever. Even though he said the risk of salmonella contamination in eggs is much lower now, another outbreak in 2010 caused 2,000 reported cases of illness. Basically, the risk is still there, and it's probably best to keep your hands off raw or undercooked eggs for good.
Raw Oysters and Other Raw Shellfish
Raw shellfish have been causing more than their fair share of food-borne illness lately. Marler says that it could be caused by the global warming of waters — the warmer the water, the more microbial growth there will be, and the more bacteria in the water means more bacteria in the oysters you eat.
