Frog finds way into salad

2004-05-04 11:47

Wellington - A passenger on a recent Qantas flight from Melbourne to Wellington was not sampling the delights of first-class cuisine when she was served frog legs.

The passenger had ordered salad, not frog, and the legs were still attached to the body of the frog, which was also alive, the New Zealand Herald reported on Tuesday. The woman had the presence of mind to slap the lid back on her meal, preventing the amphibian from escaping.

A flight attendant was called and removed the container, said Cyril Evans, a spokesperson with New Zealand's Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry Quarantine Service.

The Qantas crew notified the ministry while the plane was still in the air, and Quarantine Service staff were waiting when it landed at Wellington Airport.

The four-centimetre, brown frog, a native of Australia known as the whistling tree frog, was taken from the plane and "euthanised" in a freezer, the newspaper said.

A Qantas spokesperson said that since the incident, the airline had changed its lettuce supplier and introduced "additional procedures into the salad-supply process".

Tree frogs are common in the area where the lettuce was grown. The salads were supplied in sealed bowls from an external contractor, the spokesperson said, and the airline randomly checked such food.

Evans said it was the first time he had heard of a frog hitching a ride.

"Insects and rodents have been found on other aircraft, but this frog could carry parasites or other diseases that posed a danger to native frogs or even other species," he said.

The incident was regarded as a "one-off" and no further action had been taken. - Sapa-dpa

- SAPA