The 10 Dirtiest Foods You're Eating

I got this email from a colleague the Tuesday after Memorial Day: “Can’t come in today. Stomach bug.”

I’m no detective but—with barbeque season officially starting the day before—a prime suspect immediately jumped to mind: the norovirus, the most common cause of food poisoning in the world.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 200,000 Americans contract food poisoning every day. But Philip Tierno, Ph.D., a microbiologist at New York University medical center and author of The Secret Life of Germs, believes the actual number is closer to 800,000.

And in 4 of 5 of food poisoning cases, the attack happens at home—right (on the plate) under your nose.

"Everyone in this country will have at least one incident of sickness this year attributable to a foodborne virus, bacteria, or toxin," Tierno told Men’s Health. Except that most of us won't know what hit us. Like my colleague, we'll chalk up the usually mild symptoms—nausea, diarrhea, cramping—to a stomach bug that's going around.

We asked Men's Health contributor Jim Gorman to help us identify the 10 dirtiest foods we put on our plates. His report is shocking, in that it reads like the average American’s grocery list. Read on for the dirt about your favorite foods—and how to protect yourself at the supermarket and your dinner table.

Click here to see the Dirtiest Foods You're Eating slideshow.

THIS WEEK'S MEN'S HEALTH HIGHLIGHTS!
> 50 Things Men Wish Women Knew!
> 50 Things Women Wish Men Knew!
> Dr. Oz's 25 Greatest Health Tips Ever