Buzz
Amidst the rise in food-related alarms, genetically altered crops, and unknown meats slipping into our everyday dishes, it’s becoming increasingly tough to figure out what exactly we’re putting in our bodies. If you're one of the fortunate few who can decode ingredient lists full of colorants and preservatives at the supermarket, it's time to kick things up a notch! Impress your friends with these eerie food facts while they munch on their meals. Just make sure to have a bucket nearby.
10. Fertilizer Sandwiches
Ammonium sulfate, an inorganic salt widely used as a fertilizer, is actually an additive found in many bread dough recipes. That tasty sandwich might not seem the same once you learn that this compound is used to provide additional nitrogen for the yeast, resulting in light, fluffy bread. If you start feeling bloated after your bread fix, the ammonium sulfate content might just be the culprit. It’s also mixed with caramel to give bread that appealing brown hue. Maybe share your lunch with your plants—they’ll enjoy it as much as you do!
9. Hairy Bread
If the previous strange ingredient didn’t make your stomach churn, this one definitely will. Thinking you’re playing it safe by not choosing the fertilizer sub from Subway, you opt for a bagel instead. But be prepared for a stomach-turning game of Russian Roulette with your taste buds: you might be biting into a bagel with duck feathers or, worse yet, human hair. It’s a toss-up between these two unexpected additions, but if you spot cystine or L-cysteine dough conditioner, that’s your clue! Many kosher bread products may contain a pinch of hair. Bon appétit!
8. Sand Pizza
Many food manufacturers add a touch of silica (also known as silicon dioxide) to their frozen pizzas. While there’s no need to question the nutritional value or the delightful taste of a pinch of beach sand, the real reason it’s used is to prevent frozen products from sticking together. The sand also gives the pizza a firmer texture, similar to how it's used in concrete mixes. Why they opt for sand over something more acceptable like flour is beyond me. Taco Bell seems to love it, and so does Wendy when she whips up her chili.
7. Woolly Chews
When you chew gum, you're sharing more than just jaw movements with your favorite sheep. The gum base of your beloved piece of gum is made from lanolin, a substance extracted from sheep wool oil. Most ingredient lists label it as 'gum base,' probably to make it sound more appealing than ‘we squeezed 70% of your gum from sheep’s pooped-on skin.’ Let’s stick with calling it gum. But, if you want to know the rest of the ingredients: carminic acid is a natural red coloring derived from crushed and boiled beetles to create that lovely pink shade you’re chewing. The lac beetle adds a little shine to your gum. Want to blow some bubbles?
6. Maggot Mushrooms
The can of mushrooms you trust, whether sliced or whole, surprisingly contains an array of maggots. In each 100 grams of drained mushrooms, you could find at least 20 maggots or even more! They come in all sizes! Who would have thought? These maggots, not fond of isolation, are often accompanied by around 75 mites on average. It seems that in today’s world, there's always a little extra for free without the need for coupon hunting. If you know where to look, you’re bound to get more than expected!
5. Sea Worm Sushi
When you enjoy fresh fish, there's a chance you'll receive a surprise – nematode worms and larvae might still be present in frozen fish, but they’re dead. However, eating fresh fish could bring a few new stomach companions; don’t worry, these worms stick around for just 5 to 7 days. For an extra thrill, you may also gain a tapeworm infestation from your fish, which can live in your intestines for a couple of years, growing to a sizable length. Salmon and cod are favorite hosts for these critters.
4. Ash
Do you add a spoonful of white sugar to your coffee and sip it from a fine bone China cup? That’s a double surprise! Bone ash is the secret behind the snow-white color of your sugar. This inexpensive substance comes from drying, burning, and grinding animal bones. If you're hoping for a vegetarian tea experience, think again. Interestingly, bone meal (ground bones) is commonly found in vegetarian multivitamin tablets.
3. Clone Juice
If you're purchasing non-organic milk or indulging in coffee drinks with milk, you’re essentially sipping on pure clone juice. The FDA doesn’t see it as a big issue to label milk from cloned cows that are fed cloned food. They are, however, concerned that the idea of drinking milk from a 'Frankenstein' cow might freak you out and lead you to stop buying it altogether.
2. Vegetarian? Nope!
Many common pantry items, such as a jar of peanut butter, contain a surprising amount of tiny dead insects. A typical 18-ounce jar of peanut butter can have up to 145 bug parts from different species. It turns out that peanuts are a magnet for rodents, so you can expect to find at least 5 rodent hairs in your jar too! And let’s not even talk about the average 125 milligrams of grit—just peanuts being peanuts.
1. Plastic McRib
As soon as the McRib hits the shelves, people rush to buy this sandwich by the stack. After indulging, you might feel like you could use some wheatgrass shots, as you’ve probably consumed nearly every part of the pig that’s edible. The restructured meat used mainly consists of heart and tongue particles. But the real surprise ingredient is azodicarbonamide, a compound used in making foam plastics. So, the next time you can’t join a yoga session because you lack a mat, just grab your McRib.
+ Beaver Ass
If you really want to take a daring step after indulging in these treats, it’s time to grab a bag of raspberry-flavored candies, which contain castoreum. We've mentioned this before on Mytour, but leaving it out here would be a crime. Beaver anal glands have never tasted so good! These glands are removed, squeezed, and processed to create that unique raspberry flavor found only in nature. Why not treat yourself on a bad day?
