8 Unbelievable Things Found in Food

You won’t believe what scientists and food experts found in some of our food recently. Be prepared to be grossed out.

Ready? Here are eight unbelievable things found in food.

1. Human DNA in Hotdogs

Clear Foods, a food analytics firm, analyzed 345 hotdogs and sausages from 75 brands using genetic sequencing. The company found that in 2 percent of the samples human DNA was found; they can’t confirm where it comes from yet.

2. Meat in Vegetarian Products

The same report found that 10 percent of vegetarian products actually contained meat. For example, Clear Foods found chicken in a vegetarian sausage and pork in a vegetarian hotdog.

3. Horse Meat in Burgers

In 2013, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland found horse meat in burgers. Ten out of 27 hamburger products contained horse DNA, while 23 of them tested positive for pig DNA.

You can read more about this story here.

4. Poultry Litter and Chicken Feathers in Salmon

Farmed salmon are the most contaminated fish, says Dr. David Carpenter, director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University at Albany. These fish are fed soy, poutry litter, and hydrolzyed chicken feathers, which increase the risk of cancer.

“You could eat one of these salmon dinners every 5 months without increasing your risk of cancer,” says Carpenter. “It’s that bad.”

5. Beaver Anal Glands in Ice Cream

Castoreum is an FDA-approved food additive that is popular in ice creams. It’s classified as “natural flavoring” perhaps because of the fact that it comes from castor sacs of male and female beavers.

6. Fish Bladder in Beer

One of the most unbelievable things found in food is isinglass. Isinglass is a gelatin-like substance from the swim bladder of a fish. It is added to beers like Guinness and other cask beers to remove any “haziness,” i.e. removing any residue yeast or solid particles.

7. Sillicone Breast Implant Filler in Chicken Nuggets

We can all agree that fast food products are not the healthiest foods around. But did you know that only about 50 percent of the nuggets from McDonald’s are actually chicken? The rest are synthetic ingredients like dimethylpolysiloxane, a chemical you can also find in Silly Putty and sillicone breat implant filler.

8. Human Hair in Commercial Bread

Producers of commercial bread make use of L-Cysteine, an amino acid that prolongs the shelf life of the product. This amino acid can be found in duck and chicken feathers as well as cow horns, but the one’s used in food comes from human hair; most of which comes from China’s barbershops and hair salons. Fast food chains also make use of L-Cysteine as an additive to their products.

 


Which unbelievable things found in food grossed you out most? Would you still eat these foods? Why or why not?


 

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Juvy Garcia
Juvy Garcia
Juvy is a freelance proofreader, copy editor and writer. A nice little nook with a good book would be ideal. But concocting plans for her next drawing or DIY project will suffice while she's still busy babysitting two daughters. Follow her on Twitter or connect with her on Google+.