27 Disgusting Food Ingredients You Had No Idea You’ve Eaten Before

Buried inside the back panel of food packaging is the disturbing and gruesome reality of 21st century food production. To cut costs, add flavor, or for whatever justifiable reason, our foods are riddled with inexplicable additives we are not supposed to know about. Chances are, you’ve eaten some of these before.

Beaver Anal Secretions

 

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 Listed as: Castoreum or “natural flavoring” Yum! Castoreum is a liquid found in castor sac scent glands near a beaver’s anus. While it may not sound overly appealing, the liquid is often used as a substitute for vanilla flavoring. huffingtonpost.com

Assorted Animal Bones

 

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 When it gets harvested from the cane, sugar is brown. Since brown food is aesthetically less pleasing, it is often turned white. Some companies bleach the bones of cows and then burn them into “bone char”, which is added to brown cane sugar to make it white. Usually, sugar companies don’t list whether they use bone char or less disgusting methods.peta.org

Human Hair 

Listed as: L-Cysteine If you gag when you find a hair in your food, then you won’t be happy to learn that human hair is often an intended ingredient. L-Cysteine is a compound made from human hair and duck feathers and acts as a flavour enhancer. It’s pretty common in bagels and cakes.huffingtonpost.com

Aphids

 

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 The FDA deems that a it’s ok for vegetables to contain a certain amount of these tiny insects. In a bag of Brussel sprouts, food companies can get away with 30 aphids per 100 grams of Brussel sprouts and about 60 in a bag of frozen broccoli. Unlisted on the ingredients, of course.huffingtonpost.ca

Animal Skins 

Listed as: Gelatin Gelatin is a protein that puts the jiggle in jelly. Sources for this protein vary, but in delicious desserts, the gelatin comes mainly from pig skin. You can also find gelatin in yogurt, candy, frosted cereals and some sour cream.health.com

Viruses 

Viruses are usually something you want to avoid, but in this case, covering deli meat with bacteriophages may save your life. In general, six viruses are added to meat and they play a vital role in killing listeria microbes which kill hundreds of people a year.cracked.com

Paint Chemicals

 

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 Listed as: Titanium dioxide Titanium dioxide is a mined substance that is sometimes contaminated with toxic lead. Commonly used in paints, it also helps to make processed food, such as salad dressing and icing, look whiter for longer.rodalenews.com

Weed Killer 

Glyphosate is such a common weed killer that it’s now detectable in our soil, air, bodies, water and rain. In 2009 alone, US farmers used 57 million pounds of the toxin which is absorbed by the crops that we eat every day. The EPA classifies Glyphosate as “only slightly toxic”, yet it has been linked to cancer and reproductive problems.inhabitots.com

Coal Tar and Oil 

Listed as: Food coloring In the past, food used to be colored using coal tar, a sticky liquid leftover from carbonizing coal. Now, color additives are mostly synthesized from raw materials obtained from petroleum. Yes, we’ve come a far way since those savage times.huffingtonpost.com

Rodent hair 

For what little it’s worth - this one isn’t an intentional ingredient. There are bound to be rodents in large food production facilities and as a result, the FDA allows for one rodent hair for every 100g chocolate, 22 rodent hairs for every 100g cinnamon and five rodent hairs in a jar of peanut butter.theguardian.com

Silicone Breast Implant Filler 

Listed as: Dimethylpolysiloxane (PDMS) PDMS is used in everything from silicone breast implants, polishes, cosmetics and in some cases, in chicken nuggets as an antifoaming agent.naturalnews.com

Fish Bladder 

Listed as: Isinglass Isinglass is produced in the swim bladder of a fish. In beer production, it helps to stop any “haziness” from the final product by removing residue yeast and solid particles in the beer.theguardian.com

Beetles 

Listed as: Carmine Carmine is a red food-coloring that comes from boiled cochineal bugs, a type of beetle. These insects are mostly used in ice cream, candy, lemonade and grapefruit juice and have been known to cause severe allergic reactions in some people.livescience.com

Maggots and Mites 

In a tin of mushrooms, you can expect to find a maximum of 19 maggots and 75 mites. As always, the FDA is setting high standards for food.rodalenews.com

Paper 

Listed as: Cellulose Cellulose is derived from wood pulp and cotton, making it an important ingredient in paper and sometimes, in food. A common use is in shredded cheese, where cellulose helps to stop the strands from sticking together.health.com

Flame Retardant 

Listed as: Brominated vegetable oil (BVO) The active ingredient of vegetable oil is bromine - a potentially toxic chemical used as a flame retardants in furniture. High levels of consumption have been linked with impaired neurological abilities and the early onset of puberty.huffingtonpost.com

Antifreeze 

Listed as: Propylene glycol Propylene glycol is a chemical most commonly found in antifreeze, thankfully, it isn’t the deadly one. This chemical has lubricating properties that help in the making of soda, salad dressing, beer - oh, and condoms.health.com

Jet Fuel 

Listed as: Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) BHT is an antioxidant which helps keep foods fresh for longer - specifically cereal. Next time you reach for your breakfast, it might also be worth remembering that the chemical is also used as an additive in jet fuel.huffingtonpost.com

Biodiesel 

Listed as: Tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ) This synthetically-created preservative is so dangerous that only one gram can make you ill. The chemical is used in a host of products, from biodiesel fuel to bubblegum.huffingtonpost.com

Carbon Monoxide 

Carbon Monoxide is an odorless gas that can be deadly. But that the same stuff that comes out of your exhaust is used to package ground beef and some fish. The gas is injected into packaging after all the air has been sucked out and helps to clock the process of oxidation, that will turn pink meat into a less attractive brown.health.com

Borax

 

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 Listed as: E285 Aswell as keeping your whites white and your colors vibrant, this common cleaning agent can be found as a preservative in some imported caviar.huffingtonpost.com

Sand

 

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 Listed as: Silicon dioxide Sand is good at absorbing pretty much anything, especially atmospheric humidity that would cause food to clump together. For that reason, sand can be found in salts, soups and coffee creamer.health.com

Mechanically Separated Meat

 

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 Yes, that stuff is (apparently) meat. This monstrosity is what’s created when a machine harvests meat that’s clinging to the bone. It’s not just stubborn meat either, the paste usually contains some cartilage and bone. This process is commonly used for chicken and pork and can be found in hot dogs and other products. The method is no longer used for beef, after fears that it would infect food with mad cow disease.health.com

Bisphenol A

 

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  Listed as: Bisphenol A This chemical was removed from most hard plastics after it was linked to brain, behaviour and prostate problems. Surprisingly, it’s still used today in some tin cans. This is a problem because acidic foods, like canned tomatoes, can cause chemicals from the tin to leak into the food.health.com

Ammonia 

Ammonia is a chemical more commonly used as a household cleaning product, but which has also been weaponized. Since 2001, some companies have been using the same stuff to kill germs in low-grade beef trimmings.health.com

Saltwater 

Listed as: “solution” or “broth” Some chicken is injected with saltwater to improve taste and artificially increase weight. You should avoid it like the plague - too much salt can contribute to high blood pressure and other health issues. A normal chicken has about 70 mg of sodium per 4-ounce serving, while pumped chicken can contain 5 times or more that amount.health.com

Insect Secretions

 

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 Listed as: “confectioner’s glaze” Kerria lacca is an insect native to Thailand, it’s waste has proved rather effective in keeping hard-coated candy, such as jelly beans, shiny.health.com