Dead bat found in bagged salad sold at Florida Walmart prompts investigation

CDC tests for rabies and regional recall follow discovery of deceased chiropteran in partially eaten packet of Fresh Express Organic Marketside Spring Mix 

Alan Yuhas

Sunday 9 April 2017 22.45 BST Last modified on Monday 10 April 2017 14.10 BST 

A dead bat found inside a bagged salad sold at a Florida Walmart has prompted a regional recall and an investigation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which has warned Americans not to eat salad from such packages.

Two people discovered the bat after they had already eaten some of the salad in a bag of Organic Marketside Spring Mix. They alerted authorities, who sent the bat to a CDC rabies lab. The animal’s decayed state prevented a definitive test of whether it had rabies. 

Transmission by eating an infected animal is “extremely uncommon”, the CDC said in a statement, but the two people were recommended for treatment out of an abundance of caution.

Neither Floridian showed any signs of rabies and both reported good health, the CDC said, adding that there have been no other “reports of bat material found in packaged salads”.

Experts with the Florida department of heath, the federal Food and Drug Administration and the CDC are all involved in an investigation into how the dead bat came to be packaged with the salad.

Fresh Express, the food company whose product contained the bat, issued a limited recall for salads sold in a clear container, with a best-used date of 14 April and the production code G089B19. 

The recalled salads were only sold at Walmart stores in the south-eastern US, and the CDC said that all the remaining salad packages from the relevant lot had been removed from store locations.

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6-foot alligator forces Walmart to lock doors

The Apopka, Florida police were called out when a 6-foot long alligator strolled outside of the city’s local Walmart. As reported by WKMG Local 6, the uninvited visitor walked near the store’s automatic sliding doors and lingered, causing the doors to open and close. Walmart employees took precautions by locking the doors. Robin Watkins was shopping in the 24-hour Walmart Supercenter and like many fellow shoppers, she wanted to catch a glimpse of the wild animal. Robin told WKMG, “It was right against the door. I mean you could see it. It was probably 5 almost 6 feet long. It was a nice size gator, just chillin,” and added, “It was neat. It was neat to see. But I’m glad they locked the doors for safety because I do have my child with me.” The police tried to lure the huge reptile away and contacted the state fish and wildlife officers for assistance. But by the time the trapper arrived, the gator had already made its exit. There were no injuries and the Walmart loiterer eventually made its way to the nearby wooded area and the lake where authorities believed it lived. Gators aren’t the only species in the animal kingdom drawn to Walmart. Earlier this month, Caroline Wicks lost her pet conure parrot, Sweet Nell, when she escaped through a screen in her Longview, Texas home. Caroline was able to finally track Sweet Nell down. She found out that Nell flew six miles away to a Walmart and hitched a ride on the shoulder of a woman named Carol who was picking up a new battery. Caroline told KLTV 7 News, "The lady had pulled into the Walmart, and she turned around and there she sit. And she got on the lady's shoulder, they took her. And the lady had had birds before and she knew how to take care of birds." Caroline was reunited with Sweet Nell and the bird is back home with clipped wings and a reinforced screen to keep her safe. Another Walmart wild animal run-in happened last week when an 8-point buck wandered into a Subway restaurant within the big box store’s Goldsboro, North Carolina location. The deer was in the store for about an hour and knocked over several chairs before NC Wildlife officers arrived on the scene. The buck was given a tranquilizer shot and officers were able to get him out of the store safely and with no injuries.

Video: http://news.yahoo.com/video/6-foot-alligator-forces-walmart-203646847.html