William Marler is the managing partner of Marler Clark, which has been coined the "food safety law firm".
Having worked on food poisoning lawsuits for the past twenty years, William says there are certain foods he won't touch now.
Writing a piece for the
Food Poison Journal which we spotted on
Wales Online, the food poisoning expert explained why these are foods he never eats anymore.
Pre-cut/Pre-washed fruit & veg
The more a food is 'handled and processed', the more likely it is to attract bacteria.
“I avoid these like the plague,” William says, "convenience is great but sometimes I think it isn’t worth the risk."
To avoid this, William recommends buying unwashed whole produce and eating it within four days to lessen the risk of listeria, a bug which tends to thrive at fridge temperatures.
Raw oysters
William says he has dealt with numerous cases regarding oysters and says: "Oysters are filter feeders, so they pick up everything that’s in the water - if there is bacteria in the water it’ll get into their system and if you eat it you could have trouble. I’ve seen a lot more of that over the last five years than I saw in the last 20 years. It’s simply not worth the risk.”".
Rare meat
In William's opinion, meat needs to be cooked thoroughly to avoid potential E.coli, salomonella and other bacterial poisoning. “The reason ground products are more problematic and need to be cooked more thoroughly is that any bacteria that’s on the surface of the meat can be ground inside of it,” Marler says. “If it’s not cooked thoroughly to 160°F throughout, it can cause poisoning by E. coli and salmonella and other bacterial illnesses.”
Uncooked sprouts
Sprouts, including alfalfa, mung bean, clover and radish sprouts, can spread infection due to bacterial inflammation of the seeds.
Uncooked sprouts have been linked to numerous outbreaks of E.coli and salmonella in the US and as a result, William says he won't touch them anymore.
“There have been too many outbreaks to not pay attention to the risk of sprout contamination,” William says. “Those are products that I just don’t eat at all.”
Uncooked eggs
Although William acknowledges that the risk of food poisoning from uncooked eggs is much lower now than twenty years ago, he still stays away from uncooked eggs.
Unpasteurised milk
If milk isn't pasteurised, it's more likely to contract bacteria, viruses and parasites. “There’s no benefit big enough to take away the risk of drinking products that can be made safe by pasteurisation,” he says.
