Shocking Ingredients You Didn’t Know Were In These Common Foods

Forget about ground beef... what about ground insects!

Image Source/ Reddit

To kick off this list, we thought we'd put you off some of your favorite foods by introducing you to ground insects! Desert bug shells are ground down into a fine texture to make carmine, a red culinary food coloring for drinks and sweets. If you want to avoid (and rightly so) look for red items created with Red #40, a coal-based color.

Hairs from your favorite rodents

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I'm so surprised how food manufacturers actually get away with this! They don't sprinkle it in like a garnish, but can find it hard to keep them damn rodents away. So, the FDA approved that a certain ratio of rat hair is allowed. For example, ground cinnamon is allowed up to 11 hairs per 50 grams... ew!

Insect poop...

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Insect poop? How? Well... the secretions of the Thai bug Kerria lacca provide shellac, which gives sweets that irresistible glossy look. Not so irresistible now, huh? Don't think that being healthy will let you off though... some fruits and vegetables even contain it. If you're looking out for it, labels might list it as "confectioner's resin" or "natural glaze."

Don't forget beaver poop!

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Yep, there's even more poop to add to this list! This time, beaver poop, and the beaver might not always be as cute as this little guy. Castoreum is derived from glands of beaver's anus with a yellowish tint with a fairly strong odor (no surprise). Most products containing synthetic flavors like strawberry, vanilla, or raspberry also include casstoreum. Who even found this out?!

Grease squeezed from sheep wool

Image Source/ My Life with Shetland Wool

I mean, we use pretty much most of a sheep as it is, it's hardly surprising we use it's wool-grease too! It's actually called lanolin, and keeps their wool somewhat waterproof. It's found to be rich in Vitamin D and incredibly cheap (of course). So they just shove it in foods like chewing gum!

Bladder of a dead fish

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Okay, so at first glance, this kinda does sound bad, but in reality it's not. Fish bladders work opposite to ours, instead of holding pee, it holds air! So don't get too panicked when you see Isinglass as an ingredient on your favorite bottle of wine. Drink up!

Anti-freeze!

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There's no way manufacturers are out here letting us eat anti-freeze, right? While it's more common in cosmetics, the odorless and colorless liquid propylene glycol is in our food too. Propylene glycol can be found in sodas, artificial sweeteners, a few types of frosting, and ice cream. To be fair, it helps ice cream by preventing ice crystals. (No brainer, really).

Delicious animal cartilage

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Remember the breaking news when it was unveiled that Jell-O is made with animal cartilage, skin, and bones to extract gelatin? Well, your favorite types of marshmallows, Starbursts, gummies, and other candies also use gelatin. I'll give it to them, they're resourceful!

Acid (and no, not that type)

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Acid, and not that hard-stuff kind either. It's called Sodium bisulfate and is made up of sulfur, oxygen, sodium and hydrogen. In all fairness, it sounds pretty beneficial, keeping the hue of foods and inhibiting bacteria spread (it's also great for wine too!).

Yep, the deadly Carbon Monoxide

Image Source/ Reader's Digest

We've all heard about how dangerous carbon monoxide poisoning is, so wait until you hear this! It was an urban legend for a while but supermarkets genuinely put carbon monoxide into the packaging of their perishable meat so that it can be sold long after losing its freshness. Surely this can't be safe for us?!

Plastic, plastic...

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Who would have thought that plastic was safe to eat? Dimethylpolysiloxane is a kind of silicon and has been used in shampoos, contact lenses, and conditioners. But it's also a key component in many fast food staples including McDonald's, Subway, and Wendy's. I'm not sure I'll ever go again! (Just kidding.)

...and more plastic!

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More plastic?! How? Answer: phthalates. Pthalates can be found in a wide variety of everyday products, including perfume, hairspray, shampoo, air freshener, laundry detergent, the list goes on. Many of the foods we eat and the water we drink also contain phthalates, including dairy products, and some meats. You're basically a walking water bottle at this point.

Believe it or not... fertilizer!

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And now you're even eating fertilizer... can this get any worse?! Ammonium sulphate, which is essentially the same in appearance and texture as salt, is one of the main components of fertilizer. It lacks the distinctive flavor and aroma of table salt though. It's apparently good at improving the texture and structure of dough. Not sure I'll ever eat bread again!

Pretty much everything from your favorite animal...

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If that photo isn't enough to put you off your dinner, I don't know what is. Forget about enjoying hot dogs and slim jims from now on. There is a good likelihood that we have all consumed mechanically separated meat it without realizing because it's so common. It blends up all parts of the animal, including the skin, blood vessels, and nerves.

Pinocchio's pulp

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And to say you loved poor Pinnochio as a child too! Shame on you. Did you know that cullulose, which is pulled from wood and plant fibers, is used in your favorite cheese (like Parmesan) to stop it sticking together? Well, you do know, so avoid, avoid, avoid!

Sparkly floor cleaner

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Believe it or not, you may as well be heading for your bottle of floor cleaner... okay maybe it's not that bad. Ammonia, which is found in floor cleaner, is also found in our yummy ground beef. It ruffled so many feathers back in 2012, school lunches banned ammonia-treated beef due to public outcry. Don't be too worried though, research has shown it's safe!

You're secretly being drugged with antibiotics...

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Imagine being drugged by a food manufacturer... well, kinda. Animals are given antibiotics to promote rapid growth which contributes to their massive size. So we eat them via the animal carcass and it's actually caused a human resistance to antibiotics.

Sawdust smoke... that can't be healthy!

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Liquid smoke is more than just a fancy label you know. In fact, it's precisely what it says. Condensation droplets from the steam produced by burning sawdust byproducts are captured, condensed, then bottled, all for us to enjoy. Consumers worry that ingesting pure smoke is carcinogenic (cancer-causing), but experts say it's fine in moderation. Hmm...

Crisp, thirst-quenching salt-water

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Usually, when we refer to something that contains saltwater, we think of the ocean, right? Well... a lot of prepackaged meats have had saltwater pumped into them to add moisture and flavor to the meat. Careful if you're watching your salt-intake, meat can just catch you out.

Hairs from a hog!

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As you go through this article, you'll realize that L-cysteine is in lots of your food and comes from various types of animal hair, so vegans will want to pay attention. First up, we have L-cysteine recovered from the hairs of a hog! Can hardly be clean, right?

Liquid Smoke or Carbon?!

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Yep, you're favorite Liquid Smoke isn't as safe as you think it is!
Liquid Smoke is a staple in the American household and gives our steak that distinctive smokey flavor. Some liquid smoke brands only utilize smoke concentrate and water but other contain Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, a chemical compound of carbon that is known to cause cancer in humans. Erm... safe much?

A little thing called Irish Moss

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This one's not really that bad considering the rest. Apparently, it's common for foods to have carrageenan added to them which is derived from red seaweed, often called Irish moss, before it is used in any meal. Yet, there's not actually any nutrients in here. It's just used to make yogurt, soy milk, cottage cheese, and ice cream thicker.

A lot of intentional "bacteria"

Image Source/ Two Wandering Soles

As if COVID wasn't enough, eh? Well, as it happens, some meat, poultry, and egg companies spray viruses on their food products to keep customers "healthy." Sounds a bit risky to me to be honest! In 2006, the FDA approved "bacteriophages" to be sprayed onto food which can fight viruses like Listeria.

All kinds of chemicals

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Most of us are walking round like a portable chemist and we don't even know it! Sodium benzoate is a widely used food preservative, responsible for the carbonation of our favorites Coke and Sprite. Somehow, it actually manages to enhance the flavor of the drink as well. But, can it really be safe?

There's nothing better than sand!

Image Source/ Reddit

Silicon Dioxide is absolutely everywhere, and that includes sand! There are traces of it in the air, water, plants and animals as well. Silicon dioxide's main function as a food ingredient is to keep things from getting lumpy. Seems like it would be such a dry ingredient...

Hair from a human's head!

Image Source/ Reddit

Back to the L-cysteine, companies actually extract the amino acid from human hair too! While it's a little bit different than finding that stray hair in your favorite take-out, it's still a little off-putting. Apparently, it's put in to strengthen the dough of baking. Seems a little arbitrary to me!

Feathers off a duck's back

Image Source/ Reddit

Last, but certainly not least, is the L-cysteine pulled from that of duck feathers. That's right, they're not just useful for stuffing into your pillows and bedding! Plus, companies can actually artificially make the amino acid, but it's expensive, so they just extract it instead. Lazy!

High Fructose Corn Syrup... that's not so bad, right?

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While it might not sound so bad, you definitely don't want to consume too much HFCS, a corn-syrup based sugar substitute. It's actually been linked to metabolic syndrome, which includes type 2 diabetes and weight gain. The EU restricts its use, but it can still be found in many American staples like apple sauce, cola, and even ketchup.

Bisphenol A (practically estrogen)

Image Source/ CBS News

Great, even more chemicals pumped into our body! Bisphenol-A (BPA) is found in many common food and drink containers, including metal and plastic cans and bottles. It's been found in 67% of canned goods, according to one study, and it's reportedly in over 16,000 different packaged goods. Campbell's recently gave up using the chemical given its estrogen-like effects.

Yep, the carcinogenic Titanium Dioxide

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Apparently, preservatives like this one help food last longer and protect it from getting clumpy. Yet, what food manufacturers fail to realize is that titanium dioxide is potentially harmful to humans, which certain studies have proven. But of course, it's found in all our favorite foods like Totino's Pizza Rolls and Lil Debbie Chocolate Cupcakes.