Sandeep Sequeira bought a can of Kimball baked beans from a grocery store in Bur Dubai on Wednesday morning.

"When I got home I opened the can and I spotted something weird. So I took a spoon, placed the spoon under what was bothering me and lifted the spoon. It was half a lizard. I was lucky enough that it was right on top of the can. I was going to eat half the can only. I can only imagine if it was at the bottom of the can."

Sequeira contacted the municipality and a food inspector was sent to investigate the matter (image, right, from Sandeep Sequeira, Gulf News Reader).

"The inspector met with me and took the can and the lizard so that they can test it," Sequeira said.

Ahmad Al Ali, head of the Food Inspection Section at Dubai Municipality, told Gulf News on Sunday,

"We have already pulled all Kimball baked bean cans with the same manufacture date and lot number as the one found to be contaminated."

Taking classroom pets home for the weekend was a kindergarten ritual 40 years ago, along with the scurrying to find the bunny corpse behind the couch and returning it to class Monday morning.

It’s not dead. It’s sleeping. Tuckered out.

Jerry Curtsinger of Louisville, Kentucky, thought it would be a good idea if his kids could bring home the green anoles, a type of small, green lizard, that are apparently science class favorites.

Curtsinger said the problems began two weeks after his kids took home two lizards from school.

"Caden, our youngest, he got sick, and he had a fever of between 101 and 102.”

In the weeks that followed, Curtsinger and his two other children also became violently ill. And he said the doctor's diagnosis was salmonella.

Curtsinger learned about three out of four lizards carry salmonella. So he brought his concerns to the Jefferson County Public School District.

Lee Ann Nickerson, a science specialist with JCPS, said JCPS has a standard letter that is sent to all parents when their children want to adopt any kind of class pet, which outline the guidelines of each adoption and give some caretaking tips. After the Curtsinger family's salmonella episode, a new warning was inserted into that letter in bold italics.

Those classroom pets are now on double secret probation.

Nickerson said JCPS has been using lizards to demonstrate habitats in science class for several years, and this is the first time anyone has contracted salmonella from them. She also noted that other common pets, such as dogs, can also carry salmonella. Like lizards, they're perfectly safe as long as you practice proper handwashing when you handle them.

I’m sure that’s tremendously comforting to the Curtsinger’s of Kentucky.

The two-month old didn’t just catch salmonella from exotic family pets.

It wasn’t like she chose to cuddle with them.

I have a six-month-old and don’t let her get intimate with reptiles.

The Widnes tot was taken to hospital after environmental health officers found the family’s corn snake and bearded dragon lizard were both carrying the deadly bacteria (Salmonella).

The story also says that pet owners are also being urged to keep the animals away from kitchen sinks and bath tubs, and to even avoid smoking and handling them.

So try not to smoke your lizard. Or let your baby touch it.