Other green vegetables in your lettuce sachet: frogs, snakes and lizards

Amphibians were reported in 21 of the 40 incursions in the study, but it is also regrettable that rodents, snakes, lizards, birds and even a bat found themselves in lettuce pouches, spinach and green beans cut last).

Moreover, not all of these intruders died: according to a recent journal published by the journal Science of the Environment of four researchers in zootechnics, eight frogs, a toad and a lizard were found alive in bagged greens.

Only 27.5% of reported intruders were found in organic products. The majority, 72.5%, were found in conventional crops, ignoring the idea that pesticides, herbicides and fungicides keep at least our food without creatures.

Prepackaged green leafy vegetables are one of the fastest growing segments of the fresh produce industry in the United States. Bagged salads came to market in the late 1980s and, according to the Produce Marketing Association, were commonplace in the mid-1990s.

Over the past year, consumers spent $ 4.7 billion on pre-packaged salads, according to Nielsen. Salad and salad badortments have seen the largest increase in the past year, while prepackaged cabbage sales appear to be declining.

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Daniel Hughes, a herpetologist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and co-author of the study, explains that researchers hope to help farms develop strategies to prevent frogs and other small Wild animals to enter the fields.

"Because we do not have reliable data on the frequency of these situations, if we implement these new technologies, how do we convince the industry that we are solving a problem?", He states.

Wildlife activities on agricultural land are becoming more common due to the large-scale annexation of natural habitats to farmland.

Modern agricultural techniques are also an important factor. Mechanical harvesting of crops means fewer human eyes and hands to spot anomalies (snakes in green beans, for example, have been machine-segmented into appropriate green bean bites).

Then there is the processing and bagging of the products on the farm – a heat-sealed bag is almost inevitable, even for the most motivated creature. When leafy vegetables are widely transported in cartons, a stowaway can escape stealthily.

Part of that is preventable, says Hughes. As frogs are looking for moisture and the crops have more moisture at night, Hughes and his team suggest harvesting the day to avoid picking up the critters.

Researchers are also protecting new, rough-surfaced fences that are more difficult to scale for amphibians, as well as acoustic devices that reproduce vocalizations of male frogs to attract females, in the manner of Barry White, out of agricultural fields and into safer places.

Jaydee Hanson, Policy Director at the Center for Food Safety, explains that bagged products are more of a problem than bulk products, not just tree frogs.

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He explains that three-fold bagged products appeared when dual-earner households became more prevalent and convenience became essential in the American diet. In addition, he says, green leafy vegetables in winter are grown in the southwest, Mexico and Florida, and it is easier to transport them to the country if they are already bagged.

"The chances that a bat, mouse or snake is in your lettuce package are still pretty weak, but the chances that a pathogen present in the soil on which they were grown are High enough are high, he says.

The products accounted for between 30 and 60 foodborne illness outbreaks per year between 1998 and 2016, according to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Green leafy vegetables such as romaine and spinach are responsible for 20 to 40% of these outbreaks.

Hanson explains that even with products packaged in triple wash, it is good to wash it at home. And in case your product contains unwanted animal protein? It's time to order a pizza.