A Maine woman was enjoying a healthy meal last week — until she bit off more than she could chew. Michelle Carr, a nurse from Kittery, said that after a couple of bites of her salad, she realized that her fork was stuck in a three-inch lizard — minus the tail.
Maine woman finds 3-inch lizard in lettuce – A Maine woman who prepared a salad says she realized after a couple of bites that her fork was stuck in a 3-inch lizard, minus the tail. https://t.co/hwLa19V4IZ
— Las Vegas News (@LasVegas_NV_USA) February 6, 2018
“I thought I was putting my fork into a slice of avocado,” she told WMTW News 8, “and it was, in fact, a lizard that was missing its tail.”
“It was cold, it was dead, it was … moist,” she added grimly. Carr said she immediately threw up and worried that she might have ingested harmful bacteria.
“How much of that was the gross factor, the shock factor,” she said, referring to the vomiting, “and then my brain immediately went to the fact that I’m a new mom and I’m exclusively breastfeeding my newborn son.”
The creature is thought to be a blue-bellied lizard from California.
The new mom said she purchased the bag of store-brand romaine lettuce at Shaw’s supermarket in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on Jan. 26.
The lettuce was distributed by a California company. A supermarket spokeswoman said it notified the supplier.
Carr also called the state Health Department. A spokesman said because the lettuce was packaged and shipped from another state, any investigation would be conducted by the Food and Drug Administration.
“It was longer than my middle finger without its tail,” Carr told the Boston Globe. “We’re not talking about a spider or a bug or even a little salamander. This was a huge lizard with scales.”
Luckily, Carr and her son have not experienced any signs of illness, but attorneys with dollar signs in their eyes have probably already contacted her.
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