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10 Revolting Additives You Won’t Believe Are In Your Food

  • Spence Cooper
  • April 15, 2015

The majority of our food supply is contaminated with GMO’s, pesticides, and antibiotics, but many manufactured foods are also laced with a plethora of synthetic chemicals, from food colorants that increase the risks of cancer, hyperactivity in children and allergic reactions, to arsenic found in rice, cereal, juice, and beer.

10 Revolting Additives You Won’t Believe Are In Your Food
Here are 10 additive that would make you think twice before putting any food in your mouth ever again!

Below we’ve listed 10 nauseating ingredients you may be surprised to discover is actually in your food, courtesy of The Guardian.

Arsenic in Beer

Arsenic-Chemical-In-Beer
You’d be shocked to find out that every pint of beer you chug down, you are coming closer to your death!

Traces of arsenic in food is nothing new. The potent human carcinogen arsenic has been known to turn up in everything from rice to cereal to juice, and most recently German researchers found traces of it in beer, noting some levels found were more than twice than what is allowed in drinking water.

Traces of arsenic can actually be found in both beers and wine that are clearer in colour. That’s because they will have been filtered to get rid of plant matter and leftover yeast; most people don’t want to drink a cloudy pinot grigio after all. To filter, beer and winemakers use diatomaceous earth, a natural product that contains iron and metals; hence the arsenic. Want less arsenic in your drink? Opt for drinks that are unfiltered.

Human Hair in Food

Human-Hair-in-Food
US FDA actually approves a certain amount of human hair to be found in your food. Amazing, right?

Amino acids are your body’s building blocks, and while they can be good for your health, not all amino acids are created equal. L-Cysteine ” an amino acid used to prolong shelf-life in products such as commercial bread ” can be found in duck and chicken feathers and cow horns, but most that’s used in food comes from human hair. It has been reported that most of the hair used to make L-Cysteine comes from China, where it’s gathered from barbershops and hair salons. You can avoid L-Cysteine by buying fresh bread from a local baker, as it is not an additive in flour. Steer clear of fast food places such as McDonald’s, Dunkin’ Donuts and Burger King too, who all use L-Cysteine as an additive.

Antifreeze as a Food Additive

Antifreeze-in-Soft-Drinks
Antifreeze is a dangerous chemical, but it turns out, our soft drink has a lot of it!

You’re not drinking straight antifreeze when you down a soft drink, but if your drink of choice has propylene glycol in it you’re consuming a compound that’s used for everything from antifreeze to cosmetics to pharmaceuticals to electronic cigarettes. Its properties are many, so it’s no surprise that chemical companies such as DOW get excited about its potential in the corporate food world.

It’s also a minor ingredient in Corexit, the oil dispersant that was used after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Fortunately, if you live in the European Union, propylene glycol is not cleared as a general-purpose food grade product or direct food additive.

Beaver Anal Glands

Beaver-Anal-Glands-in-Ice-Cream
You’d never look at vanilla ice cream the same way again! LOL
(source)

If you’re eating vanilla, strawberry or raspberry ice-cream, you may just be eating beaver’s anal and urine secretions. Castoreum, which comes from the castor sacs of male and female beavers, is an FDA-approved food additive popular in ice-creams, and allowed to be called “natural flavouring”, meaning you probably don’t know that you are eating it.

Fish Bladder in your Beer

Fish-Bladder-Added-to-Beer-to-Make-Them-Clear
People who think beer is vegan will be shocked to find out that fish bladder is used to make beer clear.

A round of beers may sound like the perfect way to celebrate with vegetarian and vegan friends alike, but watch what beer you’re drinking. Isinglass is a gelatin-like substance produced from the swim bladder of a fish. It’s added to cask beers and Guinness, to help remove any “haziness” from the final product – removing any residue yeast or solid particles in the beer ” which means you could end up with a trace of fish bladder in your pint glass.

Coal Tar & Food Coloring

Coal-Tar-in-Kraft-Mac-N-Cheese-as-Yellow-Food-Die
When you’re eating Kraft’s Mac ‘N Cheese, don’t forget you’re also eating coal tar!
(source)

Many processed foods are known for including a long list of dyes, and many of those dyes are derived from coal tar. Yellow #5, also known as tartrazine, was linked to childhood hyperactivity in 2007 and since then any product in the EU that contains it must also come with a warning label. In the US, however, there is no such regulation. Concern over the food coloring recently prompted bloggers to petition Kraft to remove the dyes from their popular macaroni cheese product.

Silicone Breast Implant Filler

Silicone-Breast-Implant-Components-in-Chicken-Nuggets
Chicken Nuggets are actually 50% chicken and the rest are from hard-to-pronounce ingredients and a component used in making silicone breast implants!
(source)

Chicken McNuggets from McDonald’s aren’t known for being the healthiest thing on the planet, but they’re not really known for being “chicken” either. The nuggets are actually only about 50% actual chicken; the rest comprises synthetic ingredients, including dimethylpolysiloxane, a chemical used in silicone that can be found in Silly Putty as well as breast implant filler.

Boiled Beetle Shells

Boiled-Beetle-Shells-To-Make-Red-Food-Dye
Beware the next time you read “natural red food color” on the nutrition label. It’s just short for “boiled beetle shells.”
(source)

Natural Red #4 may sound like nothing special, but the food coloring ” also known as carmine ” is made by boiling female cochineal insect shells in ammonia or a sodium carbonate solution. It takes about 70,000 of the bugs to produce one pound of dye. Coffee giant Starbucks got slammed in 2012 for using the additive in their frappuccinos and eventually binned it, but it’s a commonly employed ingredient in many foods.

The European Food Standards Authority recently included it as an additive to research more. But while some may feel queasy at the thought of consuming bugs, the synthetic alternatives to this natural dye, such as Red #2 and Red #40, are made from petroleum products. Pick your poison. Honestly, this stuff has been used forever, but we thought we’d add it so you have something cool to discuss at your next dinner party.

Rodent Hair in Food

US-FDA-Approves-Rodent-Hair-in-Food-Like-Peanut-Butter
US FDA approves a certain number of rodent hair to be found in a jar of peanut butter. Yum, right?
(source)

Producing food products in an industrial facility is nothing like cooking at home, and certainly a big warehouse space is sure to be home to a few rodents here and there. Maybe that’s why the US FDA allows for certain amounts of rodent hair in various products, something they call an “unavoidable defects”: one rodent hair for every 100g chocolate, 22 rodent hairs for every 100g cinnamon and five rodent hairs for every 18oz jar of peanut butter. Yum.

Borax

Borax-in-Caviar
The firm, rubbery texture you feel from eating caviar is actually from a synthetic chemical called Borax.
(source)

Banned in the US and Canada as a food additive but allowed in the EU, borax is also known for making its way into fire-retardant, anti-fungal compounds and enamel. E285, as it’s known in the food world, is used to control acidity in products as well as assist in preservation. You’ll find it in some caviars ” including those imported to the US ” as well as various Asian noodle and rice dishes as it adds a firm, rubbery texture to foods.

Are you concerned about unknown additives in your food? Let us know in the comments below.

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