You can never have enough crunchy frogs.

it's only bagged spinach that is dangerous. fresh, either from a store or a fresh market, is fine to eat.

The frog is like the canary in the coal mine. If the frog survives, the spinach is good to eat.

Frogs have very porous skins and are very sensitive to environmental contaminants. Misty is right, if the frog can live in the spinach, the spinach is probably fairly wholesome.

Frogs used to be my good-luck talisman on hikes; if I saw a frog when I was starting out, it'd be a good trip. Unfortunately, with the die-off in amphibian populations, I seem to have lost my good luck. I hardly ever see them anymore.

Kelly have you ever noticed that people from the mid-West say Spin-AGE instead of spinach? A friend of mine ( and yours) pointed this out the other day. Personally I think it's just spelled wrong in the dictionary and us mid-westerns are saying it correctly. And Kelly, frogs aren't real.... Duh!

According to cnn, the FDA is saying you shouldn't eat any fresh spinach period. Bagged or not.

har-har, Hollywood...go 'head, take a poll. i'm tellin' ya, it's true! ask anyone to say the word spinach. if they pronounce it "spin-AGE", they are from the middle west. if they pronounce it "spin-ACH", they are not. not to say that either way is superior. who really cares? just diff.

i haven't heard that, m. npr was talking about it last friday, and they were saying fresh was ok.

and really, e. coli isn't THAT bad.

last friday was a long time ago--they're saying NO spinach. except the cooked-in-the-can Popeye variety. Yarararar.

http://www.mtcnet.net/~bierly/poptrick.jpg

To hell with spinach--I'm more concerned about Mad Frog disease.

I recommend collards or kale as a fine substitute!

Who knew what Mache was till last night's suppa?

The FDA is, as usual, full of crap.

Bad spinach from ONE processor shouldn't mean no spinach from ANYWHERE. The vast majority of spinach comes from nowhere near the tainted batches and is not any more likely to be affected than any other veg in the store.

I just noticed that one of the brands they are recalling is called "Natural Selection."

What I haven't heard discussed yet is whether it is safe to eat if you cook it.

The news report said it was NOT ok to eat it cooked or uncooked. But hey they eat raw chicken in sushi restaurants in Japan. It's all relative. Don't fear the spin-AGE.

2 cups spinach
1 frog
1 tsp soy sauce
1/4 medium onion
black pepper to taste

saute on high heat 160 degrees or more to prevent E coli for at least 10 minutes, or until frog turns white and soy sauce is reduced. Serves 2.

Just so you know, canonigos = corn salad (aka mache).

Probably fake, but no one knows for sure.

Yeah, E. coli isn't that bad, until you are hospitalized, develop kidney failure and possibly die from it. Unlikely to happen, but probably not worth the risk if you can avoid it.

from the CDC's website (likely more accurate than any news reporting):

CDC Advice for Consumers
The following is advice for consumers about this outbreak:

Currently, we are advising consumers to not eat any fresh spinach or salad blends containing fresh spinach that are consumed raw.

E. coli O157:H7 in spinach can be killed by cooking at 160° Fahrenheit for 15 seconds. (Water boils at 212° Fahrenheit.) If spinach is cooked in a frying pan, and all parts do not reach 160° Fahrenheit, all bacteria may not be killed. If consumers choose to cook the spinach, they should not allow the raw spinach to contaminate other foods and food contact surfaces, and they should wash hands, utensils, and surfaces with hot, soapy water before and after handling the spinach.

Persons who develop diarrhea after consuming fresh spinach or salad blends containing fresh spinach are urged to visit their health care provider and ask that their stool specimen be tested for E. coli O157.

Persons who ate fresh spinach or salad blends and feel well do not need to see a health care provider.

Snopes on the frog
http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/frogsalad.asp

They list it as indeterminate. I would add though that the frog is alive and I doubt a live frog could survive in a sealed bag. They do need oxygen after all.

It's not that sealed. The main problem is the refrigeration - but if it was only for a day, the frog would downshift and hibernate until the heat kicked back on.

I doubt it was in the bag orginally.

The bags are a freaky hi-tech porous plastic that allows some gases in and not others. Greens need to breathe. I have no idea if a frog could survive in one, but I imagine so. However, I find the perfectly framed, focused, and lit photograph suspicious; a find like this would much more likely be a crappy out of focus cameraphone shot.

You KNOW if it was real, it would have been the first exhibit for a lawsuit. I'm sure it's fake.