Injury attorney Bill Marler has spent more than 20 years working on food poisoning lawsuits. After seeing the same foods show up in his cases time and time again, he decided a few of the repeated offenders could be cut from his diet.
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Marler, who's litigating suits against Chipotle after the chain’s E. coli outbreak and has won more than $600 million for clients, says these foods just aren't worth the risk:
1. Rare meat
Marler doesn't eat meats unless they're prepared at least medium-well. He said meat should to be cooked to 160 degrees throughout to kill bacteria that could cause E. coli or salmonella.
Warmer waters, a result of global warming, means more microbials growths in oysters and other seafood. Marler said he has seen more foodborne illnesses linked to shellfish in the past five years than in the last two decades.
3. Raw sprouts
According to Business Insider, there have been more than 30 bacterial outbreaks, mostly salmonella and E. coli, from sprouts in the last 20 years.
"There have been too many outbreaks to not pay attention to the risk of sprout contamination," the expert said. "Those are products that I just don’t eat at all."
4. Precut or prewashed fruits and vegetables
Marler said he avoids these items “like the plague.” The more people that touch your store-bought apples and avocados, the more chances for contamination.
5. Unpasteurized milk and juices
Some claim that pasteurization depletes nutritional value, but Marler asserts that pasteurization is not dangerous. "There’s no benefit big enough to take away the risk of drinking products that can be made safe by pasteurization," he said.
6. Uncooked eggs
Uncooked eggs are another source of salmonella. Think again before you taste test that cake batter, eat uncooked cookie dough or order eggs sunny side up.
