It’s not good enough to just rinse tropics-grown produce before tossing a salad or chopping veggies for a smoothie. In addition, heath officials investigating a recent spike in rat lungworm disease advise careful inspection for tiny slugs and snails that could be clinging to leaves.

On Maui, the state Department of Health is investigating six new cases of the disease, in which parasitic worm larvae — carried by rats and transmitted by snails and slugs — infect a person’s brain, touching off meningitis-like symptoms. In the past decade, more than 50 people have contracted the potentially fatal disease in Ha­waii.

Thorough cooking can eliminate much of the threat, but boiling strips away nutritional content. Eating healthfully in the islands can be both onolicious and onerous.