Doctor discovers SEVERED 'SNAKE' HEAD in her bag of Giant Food ...

A US doctor has taken to Twitter to ask medical colleagues for help after finding a severed 'snake' head in her frozen beans.

Dr Rachel Buckle-Rashid, a pediatrician from Atlanta, Georgia, posted a photo on X on Tuesday evening, which showed the chopped-off reptilian head sat on top of a pan of frozen green beans.

The beans, she explained, were bought from grocery store chain, Giant Food, which has 166 stores across the country.

'What pathogens should I worry about with a severed snake head found in frozen green beans?' she asked.

The tweet resulted in a flurry of comments from the medical community, debating how risky it would be to eat the beans - and whether the surprising find in her veggies was in fact a snake.   

Dr Rachel Buckle-Rashid, a pediatrician from Atlanta, Georgia, posted a photo on X of the chopped off reptilian head sat on top of a pan of Giant Food frozen green beans

Dr Max Witt, an infectious disease fellow at the University of Colorado, said on X: 'Cook thoroughly and you'll be fine. Wash hands after handling raw snake meat (mainly for salmonella).'

Both reptiles and amphibians can carry germs that make people ill, with the most common being the bacterial infection, salmonella. 

But Dr Gail Barnes, a scientist working at the Elgin Public Museum of Natural History & Anthropology in Illinois, said: 'Pathogens are the least of your worries with a severed snake head in your greens. 

'Don't try and find any more body parts, throw everything away, plus any other similar products that you may have. 

'If you really want a pathogen list, here's the summary: every one imaginable!'

According to outdoor publication ActionHub, all snakes in North America are fine to eat.

But it advised caution when eating venomous snakes to avoid eating the head - where the venom is stored - as their venom can get into any open wounds in your mouth or throat and enter your bloodstream.

Dr Buckle-Rashid said she had reached out to Giant Food but had 'no real response.'

Salmonella infects more than 1.3 million people every year, leading to 26,500 hospitalizations and 420 deaths annually. 

Symptoms of infection usually occur within 12 hours to three days after eating contaminated food and include diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps.

In rare circumstances, a salmonella infection can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and causing more severe illness such as infections in the arteries, endocarditis (inflammation of the heart valve) and arthritis.