Safety warning over popular 'healthy' food that's often laced with deadly bacteria

Safety warning over popular 'healthy' food that's often laced with deadly bacteria

|Experts have sounded the alarm over a surge in the number of people falling ill after eating unwashed salad that's contaminated with deadly bacteria.

An alarming 17 per cent of people in the UK have admitted that they don't bother washing their salad, significantly increasing the risk of being infected by potentially deadly bugs such as listeria, according to a new study.

Listeria—which can kill—usually causes a fever, sickness and diarrhoea. But, in more serious cases, it can lead to deadly conditions such as meningitis or sepsis .

More than 280 people meanwhile were struck down by a virulent form of food poisoning that was linked to contaminated lettuce grown in the UK last summer.

An investigation