20 Gross & Disturbing Food Facts You'll Wish You Didn't Know
Eating gross things is fascinating when other people do it. It’s why kids pay a dollar to get a weird kid to eat bugs on the playground and the reason NBC has been able to produce 150 episodes of Fear Factor. But when you’re the one eating the gross stuff, it’s not as fun. And there are a lot of disgusting and weird things out there that crop up in our everyday food.
Some of them just feel kind of off-putting, but in the grand scheme of things aren’t that big of a deal. I know how cheese is made and I’m still going to eat five pounds of it if you put it in front of me. Others just feel plain wrong though, chemicals that should be in paint, or food that’s not fresh being made to look fresh. Here are 20 food facts that will make you think twice next time you’re at the grocery store.
nggallery id=’120687′
Jelly beans are covered in shellac (which is made from bug excretions)
Shellac makes things shiny, and shiny jelly beans are nice, so jelly beans are often coated in shellac. Shellac is also made from the excretions of the female lac insect. It's not bug poop, exactly, but for the purposes of sensationalism, I'm going to say that it is. You eat bug poop.Image: Tiia Monto
Image: Paul Goyette
Read more from Elizabeth and Brian on Brooklyn Supper.
Follow Brooklyn Supper on Facebook and Twitter for updates.
Don’t miss the latest from The Family Kitchen – Like Us on Facebook!
We’re pinning — are you? Follow Brooklyn Supper on Pinterest!
MORE ON BABBLE:
Purple ketchup…and 7 more failed food products we’ll never eat again
8 over-the-top divorce cakes that scream I’M FREE!!
7 food additives you should think twice about before eating
41 copycat recipes from your fave fast food joints
The 25 healthiest foods for under $1
The Jelly Belly jelly beans shown in the photo don’t actually use Shellac.
Hi Amanda, Good catch. I’ve switched out the image so as not to implicate Jelly Belly (though it seems like Jelly Bellies from abroad may still be finished with shellac: http://www.jellybelly.de/faq/q-and-a/?id=11).
I work at Starbucks, & i found out that the reason our strawberry concentrate has changed is because they have taken out that cochineal. If you look, the boxes are now red(made without cochineal), instead of white.
The things that are allowed in our food are rather gross, but if we were to cut out everything that has unsavory things in it, we’d have nothing to eat. I’m sure even those organic foods have far more gross things in it than other foods.
What I would like to know is, who decided one day, “Hey, let’s try beaver anal glands for an additive.” How do these nasty things even pop into someone’s head to have them try it in food??
Lol was thinking the same as Kim!!
Unless we can somehow each have a self-sufficient household with fields and livestock, what are we supposed to eat? I am honestly confused because nowadays everything edible is chemical, causes cancer and other diseases or is made in inadequate conditions.
I love cakes and I love meat dishes but the mere thought of what their ingredients are puts me off every time I think of it. So I don’t think of it.
I know some will say: “buy fair trade, buy organic, buy bio etc.” but there really are no fully natural and harmless foods, not with all the pollution around.
I sometimes wish our society was less greedy – maybe if there was just a little less food around, but better, we’d be healthier.
Why do food makers use all sorts of wild ingredients? Because there are some disturbed people out there who want more, more and more processed foods. Why is icecream sold by the buckets, why is a normal pizza the size of a toilet seat? Why does my local supermarket sell me ONLY potatoes that are modified genetically to boil faster? What if I don’t mind waiting?
And I am not saying let’s all join PETA and start grazing. I am just saying we should respect our planet, its gifts to us and ourselves a bit more.
Great article guys, got my cogwheels turning again
Thank you!
feedlot cows have to be on constant antibiotics because the cows stomachs (yeah, 4) aren’t designed to eat only grain. it would normally cause some pretty serious issues in a non-antibiotic-pumped cow.
also the rennet – that’s the traditional way of making cheese (think 18000′s) many use vegetable based rennet in cheese (like Tillamook!
and the beaver thing – its made from a secretion FROM the glands not the glands themselves – still gross, but different i suppose. just fyi.
We eat a lot of bug parts anyway don’t we? I had a turkey pot pie with what felt like an embalmed finger in it. It was definitely rubber. I had orange juice with glass in it.In both instances the FDA came in, grabbed the bottle or pot pie, and got it out of my hands. I guessed they didn’t want me taking it around to lawyers who’ll get me money based on it staying out of the newspapers. They wanted to use the bottle as proof and say now clean up your act. I wonder how many times people have chosen outrageous financial compensation over contributing to cleaning up the acts of those disregarding our safety. They of course never tell.
@Momof3 Thanks for your comments. Not to beat a dead beaver, but The Vegetarian Resource Group Blog cites a 2007 article in the International Journal of Toxicology, which says “Castoreum extract… is a natural product prepared by direct hot-alcohol extraction of castoreum, the dried and macerated castor sac scent glands (and their secretions) from the male or female beaver.” Here’s the source link: http://www.vrg.org/blog/2011/06/17/beaver-gland-castoreum-not-used-in-vanilla-flavorings-according-to-manufacturers/
Okay the whole red meat treated with carbon monoxide gas is only done to set the color of the globin in the meat. It has not been shown to have any lasting effects to the product. If meat were sent to grocery stores in it’s “natural” state it would be brown due to oxidation. Blood oxidizes when it comes into contact with oxygen. It’s the same principle with apples and avocados and we don’t get up in arms when people apply lemon juice to keep them from turning brown. Who would buy brown meat even though it was still safe to eat? No one. Please people do your homework before you jump on every internet bandwagon that says something is bad for you.
Oh and FYI many of those perservatives that people go on and on about are natrual too. DO YOUR HOMEWORK!
This was a very interesting article, and I agreed with most of it up to the very end. Why should we oppose child labor on farms? I think every child should BE FORCED to work on a farm for at least two summers. Originally, that’s why school was out from June to September, remember?
People are so ready to eat veal, but calf STOMACH is gross? Why? It’s absurd how contradictory people are when it comes to food. if it tastes good, eat it, and don’t let the fact that bug parts ( which may even be good for you) or a part of the animal that’s not normally used deter you from eating the stuff you normally would. for god’s sake sausage’s lining is made out of pork intestines and nobody ever complains about that.
Children on farms…yes, they’re called Family Farms. My kids work in our 1/3 acre garden. Some interesting things in the article; some real crap as well meant to elicit an emotional response for political purposes. Take such articles with a grain of salt and know the source…be an educated consumer and reader.
@Charlene and @Pat, I think it’s great for children to lend a hand on their own family’s farm, but the point on the slide is that, due to economic circumstances, families in poverty and migrant laborers are forced to have their children (as young as 12) participate in back breaking, extremely dangerous labor day after day. “According to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), between 1995 and 2002, an estimated 907 youth died on American farms—that’s well over 100 preventable deaths of youth per year.” http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/12959/citing_big_ag_fights_reforms_for_child_farmworkers/
weve been eating this stuff for the last decade and we have been fine.weve cut off fishes.pigs,cows,and chickens heads to eat there bodies.what seriousely makes your think we cant eat bugs? In some countrys especially in africa and some poor asian countrys beetles and ants are for breakfast ,lunch , and dinner.You probally dont know that the ground beef in your toco most likely came from a poor corn fed cow which causes the cow to have seriousebow movement(pooping)problems and the people dont even consider cleaning it off when it goes into the proccessor.So yes,youve probally eaten cow poop in your lifetime atleast few times.and unless it had e-coli,it didnt affect you.and seriousely, dont you want that taco?mmmmmhhhhhhhhh.
As someone who grew up in the agriculture industry I am astounded that kids working on family farms counts as a “gross food fact.” I spent countless hours of my childhood working next to my dad and I am so thankful for that experience. Maybe if more kids learned to work we would have more productive and responsible citizens in our society. I have two bachelor’s degrees and my brother is an engineer. I sincerely doubt that we would be as successful as we are had we spent our childhood “protected” from work sitting in front of the televsion.
@Enlund, As I said in the comments above, and in an update to the post, I think it is wonderful for kids to help out on the farm, and even work pretty darn hard at it, and it sounds like you have had just such an enriching experience. I’m actually taking issue with the loophole that allows kids to work on their own family farm, that also allows children of, say, migrant laborers who work on many farms throughout the country, to work alongside their parents in jobs that are dangerous for anyone (and largely take them out of school). Over 100 children a year lose their lives doing this type of labor.
I work in a grocery store and can testify to most of what the article states. Our meat IS NOT TREATED WITH CO, and we carry a large selection of organic,free range,cage free items.IF YOU ARE NOT SURE IF A SPECIFIC PRODUCT HAS A “GROSS” COMPONET,ASK!!!!! There are so many choices available, you can find food that is actually good for you,without having beaver anal gland secretions. People have mouths-they’re not just for eating or complaining, you can use it to ASK question!!!!!
This reporter must be a real yuk fest at parties and bar mitzvah’s! Laugh
Lets face it…this is gross. However, can you possible imagine what they were eating 100 years ago? Its just no one talked about it..or cared. It does kinda make you want to be a vegetarian though….
Thanks Mofo for the tip on Tillamook. I like Tillamook…though expensive!
I was suggested this web site via my cousin. I’m not certain whether or not this submit is written by him as no one else realize such targeted approximately my problem. You are incredible! Thanks!
several of these are wives tales – and wouldn’t it be cool to look into organic bug repellant – aka, splattered poop on your apple??? but HEY at least it’s natural!
Amazing things here. I’m very happy to see your post. Thanks so much and I am taking a look forward to touch you. Will you kindly drop me a e-mail?