Eating Salad After Slugs

[donksey]

I just wondered, are there any issues with eating lettuce that had had slugs attacking it. Possibly even the odd small one being accidently eaten?
I know dogs can get lung worm from eating slugs.

Thanks

[happyhumph]

Good question - I have no idea. I tend to give mine a rinse under the tap first. I'm sure someone will be along soon who knows the answer.

[muddled]

Slugs are linked to Ecoli.
Bare in mind they prefer to eat poo before lettuces...and dead things....they like to crawl over and eat poo and dead things.

Wash your lettuce.

[Bren In Pots]

I wash everything that comes out of my garden well apart from peas inside pods and reasberries because I can't resist them.

[treepixie]

I wash everything as well, and really inspect each lettuce leaf

[Jungle Jane]

Yes there are issues be careful to wash any slime trails off of lettuce as well as the slugs.

"The normal life cycle of the lungworm A. cantonensis involves rats (definitive host) and snails or slugs (intermediate hosts), and also transport hosts such as crabs, freshwater shrimps, fish, reptiles and amphibians who feed on them.
Humans are incidental hosts and acquire the infection by eating raw or undercooked infected snails, slugs, crabs or freshwater shrimps, or by eating raw vegetables contaminated by a small snail or slug."
A. cantonensis-
Adult worms of A. cantonensis live in the pulmonary arteries of rats. The females lay eggs that hatch in the terminal branches of the pulmonary arteries.
Larvae migrate to the pharynx, and are then swallowed and passed in the faeces. The larvae penetrate or are ingested by an intermediate host (snail or slug). Third-stage larvae are produced, which are infective to mammals.
When the mollusc is ingested by the definitive host, the third-stage larvae migrate to the brain where they develop into young adults. The young adults return to the venous system and then the pulmonary arteries where they become sexually mature.
In humans, juvenile worms migrate to the brain (or, rarely, the lungs), where the worms ultimately die.
A. costaricensis-
The life cycle is similar except that the adult worms live in the arterioles of the ileocaecal area of the definitive host.
In humans, A. costaricensis often reaches sexual maturity and releases eggs into the intestinal tissues. The eggs and larvae degenerate causing severe local inflammation and do not appear to be shed in the stool.
Eosinophilic meningitis-
Symptoms are caused by the presence of larvae and local host reactions in the brain.
Symptoms include severe headaches, nausea, vomiting, neck stiffness, seizures, and paraesthesiae.
Abdominal angiostrongyliasis-
This presents with acute abdominal pain in the right lower quadrant, associated with prolonged fever, anorexia and eosinophilia. Infection usually involves the terminal ileum, appendix or ascending colon.
Angiostrongyliasis. Angiostrongylus Infection information. Patient | Patient

[Nicos]

^^^^^

Quite an informative link....but a tad scarey!

As the others say, just give a thorough rinsing under the tap.

[muddled]

There are lots of different varieties of parasitic lung worm all over the world.

I have no special knowledge but it says here Lungworm that the type endemic in the UK (and the one dogs get) is not known to affect humans.

Still wash your salad though!

[Mrs Bee]

Wash your salad really well and then rinse in a bowl of diluted Milton. It tells you the dilution on the Milton website.

[noviceveggrower]

Beat me to it Mrs Bee. I was going to say dilute Milton. Or my nan use to dissolve some salt in water and leave the stuff to soak for a few minutes then rinse off with fresh cold water. One of her sayings was "You've got to eat a peck of dirt before you die" and my reply was "yes but not all in one go". Use to get a cuff at the back of my ear for that one.

[Ryez]

That's scary and gross! Well, you are all alive and well, so hopefully it's not all that bad! Deffo washing leafy greens, herbs and veg from the garden. Since July that they found Ecoli in mixed salad leaves, I wash everything! Might as well try the salt method, it sais you need to leave them in for 20 minutes?

[Jungle Jane]

The E.coli seems to have come from imported salad leaves/rocket from the Mediterranean. There's an interesting article here~
"Al Ain: Dr Ruwaya Al Kandi, of the biology department at the UAE University in Al Ain, said nearly 43 per cent of water wells in the country are contaminated with bacteria that can cause people who have been exposed to high concentrations of the bacteria to contract diseases or infections.
“Studies carried out on wells in different parts of the country showed six out of 14 wells are contaminated with high concentrations of bacteria which can survive in the intestines of both man and animal,” Dr Ruwaya said.
Dr Ruwaya explained that the study also showed that the quantity of the bacteria in these water wells exceeded the standard level for safe consumption, even for irrigation of crops.
“The presence of the bacteria in water wells is an indication that there has been a contamination of animal or human excrement. It also points towards the possibility of other contaminants in the water such as insecticides and agricultural fertilisers,” Dr Ruwaya said.
Dr Ruwaya warned that such contamination is a key factor in the spread of diseases, adding that anyone who has consumed the water could contract intestinal diseases."
43% of water wells in the country are contaminated | GulfNews.com
We might be at risk if we used contaminated manure/water but growing our own,knowing what's going on in our foods life from seed to plate is the cleanest way to go so don't worry too much,just don't eat contaminated manure salad leaves or slugs. I read something about all GBs crops being tested & passed to. We have quite strict food safety here etc but when people unfortunately have to buy salad in the shops,they should feel safe they're buying something that isn't going to kill them!

[Containergardener]

I add salt to water as my mum always did it.

[cilla]

Interesting tread. Scary but interesting. I usually wash the lettuce from the garden but not thought of salt or Milton. Does the salt not extract the water contents from the leaves?
I will diffo wash the leaves more. I however never wash the bought packet ones, interesting.

[Alison]

I'm fine with just washing mine, to be honest I'm not to comfortable adding Milton or salt.