Woman claims to find 3-inch lizard inside store-bought lettuce

KITTERY, Maine -- 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. After vomiting and getting over her shock, Michelle Carr, a nurse from Kittery, said she feared she could have ingested harmful bacteria.

A biologist friend believes she found a blue-bellied lizard from California.

Carr said she bought a bag of store-brand romaine lettuce at a 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.

The Portsmouth Herald reports Carr is a new mother of a 10-week-old newborn baby boy and told the newspaper that she was concerned for her child's safety.

"I've been breastfeeding almost non-stop since he was born," Carr. said "This boils down to a quality-control issue. I don't have a malicious bone in my body, and I can get past the emotional distress an incident like this causes but I could've gotten really sick. It's taken me 10 years to become a mother and this could've been potentially harmful to my newborn."

You can read the full interview and more images at the link below: