Top 15 Banned Foods
10.
“Horse Meat”- Though the meat known as chevaline was only technically banned in the
United States from 2007 until 2011 the regulations that remain in place (thankfully for horse
lovers everywhere) still make it very hard for a once strong industry to resurge.
Horse Meat has been a common replacement for beef for centuries, so much so that you have
probably eaten it and not known it.
Many food manufactures and restaurants have either called it beef or mixed it in with
their other beef products.
It was commonly used as a substitute meat when times got tough during both World Wars
and has always been a main ingredient in several dog foods.
Many religions and countries have had various bans on chevaline throughout history, but
most famously was that of France where eating horse meat known as hippophagy was punishable
by death until 1866.
9.
“Japanese Puffer Fish”- You may already know that the Japanese Puffer Fish is fatally
toxic aside from very select pieces which must be cut by only the precisest of chefs--However
many countries won’t even take that risk as the entire European Union has banned the
sale and preparation of any fish even belonging to the same genus.
Even in the United States only a handful of restaurants are licensed to serve the dish
known in Japan as Fugu.
The chefs that prepare Fugu are required to undertake an intense exam process that only
few pass.
If you eat the poisonous Pufferfish (whose tetrodotoxin can be over one-thousand times
more dangerous than cyanide) your mouth will go numb, your body will become paralyzed and
you will die from asphyxiation.
There is no known antidote to this toxin.
What’s more is that the part of the fish that is considered the most delicious is the
liver which surrounded by the toxin and sometimes known to contain it.
8.
“Frozen Dinners”- You might not know the chemical azodicarbonamide by name but if you
live in the United States, chances are you have eaten this potentially dangerous additive.
The chemical known as ADA is an industrial foaming agent that is used in various squishy
plastic products such as yoga mats and flip-flops, but it is also widely used in microwavable
dinners in order to make bread and other such foods more light, spongy and aesthetically
appealing.
It is also used at some fast-food chains in the dough they use in order to make the bread
last longer and be more fluffy.
Notably, it was used by Subway who banned the chemical in 2014 after public outrage.
Because ADA is known to cause certain allergies, skin conditions and may be linked to causing
asthma it is now banned across the European Union, Singapore and Australia.
7.
“Unpasteurized Milk”- Until Louis Pasteur invented what we know today as Pasteurization
in 1856 foods such as wine, beer, almonds and milk were prone to going bad extremely
fast or housing a multitude of bacteria such as salmonella and E. Coli from the point of
creation.
Because of the deadly danger of these bacterias the United States banned distribution of unpasteurized
or ‘raw’ milk across state lines.
Though it is illegal in some states, in most you can buy raw milk from local dairy farmers
or small stores.
These providers however cannot widely distribute and a growing number of people want to change
the government regulations against this.
These people cite the fact that the milk doesn’t contain growth hormones, that it may have
some health benefits that pasteurized milk does not and that it allegedly tastes better.
The CDC, FDA and American Medical Association are all steadfast against this movement because
though not all raw milk is hazardous it only takes one bad batch to be deadly or cause
an outbreak of disease.
If the demand for raw milk keeps surging however, the Federal government may be forced to legalize
the distribution of unpasteurized milk in order to properly regulate what is a burgeoning
underground industry.
6.
“Shark Fins”- Shark fins have been eaten for centuries primarily in Vietnam and China
in the form of shark fin soup.
The Chinese traditionally believed that eating shark fins can help increase vitality and
overall healthiness but this is contrary to scientific information.
Shark fin soup is actually found to increase the risk of mercury poisoning and mental illnesses.
Beyond the possible health effects, the process of shark finning is widely considered inhumane.
When shark finning, the fishermen cut off a shark’s fin and throw the shark back into
the ocean which usually leaves the shark to suffocate or be eaten by other aquatic creatures
as the shark can no longer swim properly.
Thankfully, in 2000, President Clinton signed into law legislation that made it illegal
to harvest shark fins in United States waters and by U.S. ships in international water.
However, it is still legal to import shark fins and canned shark fin soup.
In the last two years there has been a strong push by several activist groups and politicians
to outlaw the importing and sale of these products.
5.
“Absinthe”- Known as The Green Fairy, this high-proof liquor was invented in Switzerland
in the late 1700s but reached its pinnacle in popularity in the French Bohemian culture
of the 19th century.
Absinthe is distilled from several different botanicals mainly that of wormwood and has
a distinct flavor of anise.
It has been commonly misconstrued as a hallucinogen in popular culture due to its containing the
chemical thujone.
This chemical is the source of many misconceptions.
One of the most famous of which is that absinthe was at one point banned in the United States.
This myth was believed for almost 100 years due to the government’s ban on thujone.
In actuality, the misinterpreted ban on thujone was only applicable to products that had over
10 milligrams per liter and most absinthe has and had far less thujone than that parameter.
This fact was overlooked though, probably because of the taboo nature of the drink,
so the drink that was technically legal was treated as banned for the better part of a
century.
Many people today falsely believe that manufacturers recently pressured the government into lifting
this non-existent ban but the real case is that the recent rise in popularity of the
drink actually had distillers looking at the fine print and realizing the alleged ban was
bunk.
However, there actually were bans in two of the countries where the drink was most revered.
In France, there technically kinda-sort-of still is a ban on absinthe, well at least
calling it absinthe.
For years the manufacturers of absinthe in France had to get away with distribution just
by changing the name of the drink from absinthe to a ‘worm-wood based product’.
In 2011, they legalized it fully--aside from the true full-strength absinthes that come
from the Swiss.
Meanwhile in Switzerland, its place of origin, there was a ban on the product until 2005.
4.
“Ackee”-The national fruit of Jamaica which originated in West Africa is banned
in the United States and several other countries due to the deadly toxin it contains.
Ackee is a flowery looking fruit that holds large black seeds that are full of the poison
known as hypoglycin.
Hypoglycin when ingested causes what Jamaicans call Jamaican Vomiting Sickness which commonly
results in death.
The fruit is usually served with saltfish, and like the Japanese pufferfish, Ackee must
be prepared to exact specifications as there is only a small portion of the fruit that
doesn’t contain hypoglycin.
To insure this portion is poison free the fruit is inspected to be ripe beyond doubt
and boiled after to remove any possible remnants.
Canned and frozen Ackee was legalized in the United States for distribution in 2000, but
still must pass some of the strictest inspection guidelines and the raw plant still is illegal
to import.
3.
“Casu Marzu”-This unique cheese made of sheep’s milk can rarely be found outside
of its home, the Italian island of Sardinia.
Casu Marzu is banned in the United States and in the European Union.
Why?
Because the cheese is deemed unsanitary by health organizations due to it containing
live maggots.
Though Italy is part of the European Union government officials tend to look the other
way when it comes to Sardinians who have been making this traditional delicacy for centuries.
The cheese can only be made from a certain type of sheep that are native to Sardinia
and survive in its harsh climate.
In order to make Casu Marzu, a common sheep milk cheese known as Pecorino Sardo is set
outside for months so that flies will munch on it and lay their eggs inside of it.
Once the maggots hatch the enzymes they create cause the cheese to decompose which softens
it considerably and heightens its aroma.
This process also adds a spicy kick to the cheese.
Casu Marzu must be eaten at just the right time as when the maggots start to die the
food becomes too dangerous to eat.
Even though Sardinians swear by it and consume it often, the E.U. and U.S. banned it because
it is hard to regulate due to the fickle nature of its housing live organisms, the risk of
intestinal larval infection and several cases of people who have eaten it coming down with
allergies.
2.
“Haggis”- When one thinks of Scotland a few things come to mind: kilts, bagpipes,
golf and haggis.
But what exactly is haggis and why is it banned in the United States?
Haggis is probably the most celebrated dish in all of Scotland and is considered by many
the best of all meat pudding.
The dish is made from the parts of sheep leftover after the tender mutton is removed, such as
the heart liver and lungs which are called “sheep pluck”.
The pluck is then cooked and mixed with seasonings and oatmeal which are stuffed into a sheep
stomach and boiled for a few hours.
So why is this highly sought after and beloved Scottish dish banned in the United States?
Well as it turns out, in 1971, the USDA enacted a law that bans any food that contains lungs
of livestock.
Their reasonings is that during the process of slaughtering an animal such as a sheep
or cow that unwanted fluids such as stomach acid and phlegm can pool into the animal's
lungs and these could possibly make people sick.
Haggis without lung can be found at some restaurants in America but many refuse to eat it, citing
that it doesn’t taste the same.
1.
“Mountain Dew”- Pepsi-Cola’s Mountain Dew is one of the most popular soft drinks
in the United States so you might be surprised that it is banned in over one-hundred countries
around the world.
One might think that this is because of the drinks high caffeine content but the real
culprit is Brominated Vegetable Oil or BVO.
BVO is made of plant triglycerides that have been chemically combined with the element
Bromine.
The resulting additive is used in Mountain Dew as an emulsifier, this means that it acts
as a glue that stops the ingredients of the soda from separating in storage as they naturally
would.
The bad part is that bromine is a toxic chemical that has been found to cause a multitude of
mental health issues such as schizophrenia to physical issues like birth defects and
deterioration of vital organs.
When it becomes BVO it is found to also increase the risk cancer and thyroid damage.
If you want to avoid BVO, cutting out Mountain Dew isn’t the only thing you’d have to
do, you’d have to cut out almost all soda-pops and sports drinks altogether because it is
found in almost every beverage with citrus flavoring on the market and then some.
For these reasons, products that use BVO as an additive are banned across the European
Union, India and Japan as well as others.
Many of the companies that make products with BVO have scaled back the amount they use in
their products and say they intend to eventually get rid of it outright.
The FDA maintains that most cases of illness or medical conditions linked to BVO occur
when people ingest excessive amounts of it.
People who drink more than two liters a day have been known to develop health problems
such as nervous system disorders, reproductive issues and even skin lesions.
In one extreme case, a man developed the rare skin condition bromoderma after he drank a
disgusting 8 liters of Ruby Red Squirt daily.