It's 2018 and while the organic, raw and natural food movements have never been stronger, for
most people with regular diets, at least some of the food that they consume regularly is
really stretching the definition of food in the first place.
From the chemicals meant to keep food "fresh", to the combination of some really nasty natural
processes and ingredients, there are a ton of different foods out there that people wouldn't
touch with someone elses' tongue if they really took the time to read the ingredients (and
then search for what those ingredients actually are on a chemistry website).
So, let's take a look at the 10 most off-putting food facts that may change the way that you
eat forever.
Jelly Beans that Shine
If you had to make a short list of the things in this world that most people would rather
starve than actually eat, most bugs would make everyone's top 10 (despite their supposed
high protein amounts).
So, when you're reaching into a bag of candy, the last thing you're thinking about is bugs
or beetles but that's exactly what makes some candies as shiny as they are (namely Jelly
Beans).
The shine that you see on the outside of Jelly Beans is called Shellac, which is actually
made from the "excretions of the female lac insect" (which look kind of like a cricket
mixed with a scorpion mixed with Satan).
While that's not actually the poop of the Lac, it is close enough to make you wonder
just how important the shine on a Jelly Bean really is.
If it's really all for aesthetics, then perhaps we can just go without it.
However, Jelly Beans are known to stick together even when covered in Shellac, so removing
it would probably mean that you'd have to store your Jelly Beans in the fridge (as heat
and humidity perpetuate this problem).
That may sound like a pain, but it's a small price to pay to not have to remember that
you're basically eating the feces of the bug from hell everytime you go to the movie theater.
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Chicken Nuggets
Be honest.
Before you even started watching this video you definitely expected to see chicken nuggets
appear somewhere in it, either because of the fact that chickens don't have "nuggets"
as part of their bodies or because you saw that infamous "pink slime" video that went
viral a few years ago.
Beyond the deus ex machina from Ghostbusters 2, chicken nuggets are just gross, as they're
basically the hot dogs of the chicken world thanks to the fact that they're basically
comprised of left-over chicken products, called "chicken slurry" (at least "pink slime" had
a nice ring to it).
Chicken slurry is a liquefied meat product that it's defenders say are the best way to
use the "whole chicken", but there's a reason why people don't eat the whole chicken and
there's really no better explanation as to why than the existence of chicken slurry itself.
The FDA Allows for a Certain Level of ... What?
They say that ignorance is bliss and that's because the more a person learns about life
or reality, typically the more depressed they become about the state of the world.
There may be no better example of that then the fact that the FDA actually has a maximum
allotted "Rodent Hair" per 100 grams of food product and it isn't zero.
That's because rodents, namely rats, are extremely smart and capable of surviving pretty much
anything.
They’re the cockroaches of the mammal world and because of that, there's really no way
to completely remove them from the food-chain.
So, while it'd be nice to say that there's no rat hair in your ... Everything, the truth
is that there most likely is and somehow the FDA decided that four hairs per 100 grams
is the right amount of rat hair.
Considering the fact that rodent hair can have fleas and that those fleas were (and
still are, in some areas of the world) responsible for the plague, and you'll start to see why
some people prefer to grow their own food.
While it may be really, really, really gross (especially if you're eating a lot of Jelly
Beans (Yum, rat hair and bug poop!)), at least it's not bad for your health, unlike our next
entry...
All That Poison in Baby Food
The FDA also allows a certain amount of highly dangerous chemicals in a lot of different
foods, like honey for example, which has enough botulism spores to make it basically deadly
for children under a certain age.
Some of it is just a natural byproduct of produce growing in the earth, like arsenic
for example, which is typically present in small amounts in rice but has been detected
at higher than FDA allowed levels in basically every brand of rice products marketed towards
children in recent years.
Beyond that, a lot of heavy metals that are used in manufacturing like cadmium, seep into
food while it's being mass-produced and is present even (or especially) in brands that
are marketed as "safe", "natural" and/or "organic".
Suddenly the fact that 1 in 3 people watching this video will have cancer at some point
in their life is starting to make sense, as basically our food is full of poisons that
our bodies can't break down (like mercury and lead).
Beyond that, there are also "safe" levels of those heavy metals in our water supply,
too, so if you were thinking of fasting to literally detox, you might have to switch
to air...
Oh.
Wait a minute.
Carbon Monoxide = Fresh?
As we've seen, there are a lot of highly poisonous and cancerous chemicals that enter into our
food either as a byproduct of nature or a byproduct of the manufacturing process and
while that's concerning, at least it's not something that's done intentionally for an
otherwise worthless reason.
Leave that to the good people of the meat industry, who clearly want people to think
that the product(s) they're buying are fresh and safe to eat.
Most people look at the color (and smell) of the meat through the packaging to see how
quote "good" it is and while that used to be a good indicator of the shelf life of the
steak, hamburger or other hunks of animal you're about to buy, it really no longer is,
thanks to modern science.
You see, when some meat is introduced to carbon monoxide it turns colors that are mostly associated
with freshness while it also basically makes it impossible for the meat to turn the natural
colors people were used to seeing for millennia when chowing down on cow, bison or mammoth.
While there are no indications that it’s necessarily bad for humans, carbon monoxide
is highly poisonous and something that if breathed by humans can cause all sorts of
problems.
The process is called "gas packing" and while it may make you think that your butcher is
connecting his car's exhaust to today's finest cuts, it's supposedly a relatively benign
process.
Either way, though, considering the fact that that meat also has minimum amounts of heavy
metals and at least four rat hairs, perhaps blowing toxic gas into it is something that
isn't necessary in 2018.
Then There's the Bacteria
One benefit of blasting meat with noxious gas, you'd think at least, would be the fact
that it probably would kill any bacteria that's sitting atop the meat and waiting to infect
someone at a 99 cent buffet.
But, if chemistry class taught us anything, which it maybe didn't, it's that there are
both aerobic and anaerobic cells, meaning that not all forms of life need oxygen to
survive.
Perhaps because of that, and definitely because of all of the anti-bacterial drugs that livestock
were fed for decades to lower the chances of farmers losing animals to disease, apparently
one-in-four meat samples tested have some sort of drug-resistant bacteria on its surface.
That means that some meat comes with things like drug-resistant staph infections on its
surface which clearly isn't that big of a deal (as you don't hear about people dying
from staph or flesh-eating bacteria after a barbeque), but it can be especially if you
work around food a lot as the chances of you accidentally cutting yourself while slicing
and dicing through meat is pretty high.
That would give that bacteria a straight shot to your innards and is something that could
have wide-ranging consequences not only for people who cut meat for a living but for people
who... you know, live.
Humans are animals and there's a reason why you dissected that fetal pig in high school,
it's because they have remarkably similar organs to those of humans and that doesn't
just come in handy when it comes to learning about said anatomy but also when it comes
to bacteria finding new hosts regardless of species.
the fact that antibiotics haven't even been around for 100 years and bacteria is already
becoming resistant is also sort of scary, but that's a topic for another video.
Consumption of Sick Animals
The reality of needing to feed a planet of seven-billion people often means that, when
it comes to the farms that produce the meat that we eat, things aren't always clean, humane
or moral.
While a lot of people are trying to learn more about where the meat they eat comes from
and are attempting to make conscious choices like eating locally or from farms that allow
free-range animals, the reality is that most meat comes from "corporate farms" where animals
have pretty dismal, cramped lives that consist of basically just eating, standing and waiting
for slaughter.
That was "okay" back when farms used to pump their animals full of antibiotics, as things
like the bed-sore like skin lesions animals get from being in pens all day could be kept
under control and free of infection.
However, as we've seen above, antibiotics in the meat we eat is not only disgusting
but it also could be the end of civilization as we know it, so while it's commendable that
farms are no longer pumping meat full of medicine, it doesn't mean that they're somehow alleviating
the causes of the diseases that prompted the use of antibiotics in the first place.
Beyond that, farming is a hard life and the difference between profit and loss can be
razor thin, so because of that a lot of farmers will still butcher sick animals and sell their
meat on the open market.
A recent study showed that almost 15 percent of feedlot cattle had abscessed livers and
that of the 110 million hogs slaughtered in a given year, almost 80 percent were given
a drug that boosts their meat production but otherwise makes the hogs really, really sick
(hyperactivity, trembling, broken limbs, inability to walk, lesions and death).
So, basically, the meat industry is still giving livestock medication, but instead of
medication meant to make them healthy, they're actually making them sick just to improve
their quotas.
Suddenly vegetarianism is making a lot of sense.
More Bugs in Sweet Stuff!
Now that you're probably a vegetarian, we thought it was time to ruin a staple of that
diet as well!
Whether or not you're actually a vegetarian (or a vegan), you've probably had a smoothie
or delicious frappucino at one point in your life and thought that you knew everything
that went into it, as you saw the person at Jamba Juice making it.
However, between the ice cubes, bananas, strawberries and milk there is actually a natural way that
a lot of companies that manufacture Strawberry Frappucinos (or related drinks) get that beautiful
pinkish-red color that's clearly meant to mimic strawberries.
Like another entry on this list, it turns out that instead of using a bunch of different
chemicals (man-made chemicals at least), the food industry uses some bugs either for things
like the shine on jelly beans or the color in that frapp.
That dye is made from something called cochineal, which is actually just ground up beetles,
which actually may make strawberry frappucino's not totally safe for vegans...
Sorry, we’re warning you, though.
So, enjoy your carbon monoxide or incurable staph infection covered steak from a sick
cow while you drink your crushed up beetle frappucino.
The Anal Gland of a Beaver
Most people think of food dyes and flavoring as highly unnatural and something that most
food companies make in a lab, but as a couple of other entries on this list show, a lot
of companies have never strayed from using really disgusting actual animal parts in their
otherwise sweet and fun confections.
That's especially true in the case of castoreum, which is a common additive that is used a
ton in baked goods as it tastes and smells a lot like vanilla, however, it's actually
derived from the anal glands of beavers.
Now, the question then becomes where are they getting
all these beaver anal glands, are there beaver farms where they slaughter them just for those
glands or are they also taking things like the pelts for jackets, the tails for billy
clubs and the teeth for before posters at orthodontists offices?
It’s a whole can of worms.
Beyond that, who was the first person to realize that the butt gland of a beaver tasted just
like it smelled?
There are so many questions that open up here, the most important of which is, of course...
Why?
Sure, back in the day there weren't factories capable of churning out synthetic versions
of chemicals but now that we have that, considering the fact that we allow people to blast carbon
monoxide onto our meat, I think some synthetic beaver butt juice isn't a bridge too far.
Cheese Kills
Most people love to eat meat and while they probably couldn't slaughter a cow themselves,
they still can't stop feasting on the deliciousness that is really every kind of meat.
However, even the most ravenous of carnivores may take issue with the meat known as veal,
which is basically the meat of a calf or baby cow.
It's said to be a lot more tender and thus more delicious than regular cow meat.
While most people draw that line at veal, they don't realize the vital role that calves
play in the making of cheese.
Rennet is a group of enzymes used to digest that milk, and it's one of the most crucial
steps to making all kinds of cheese and really the best way to obtain it is by... you know,
you guessed it, slicing open the stomach of a nursing calf and basically taking the rennet
from it.
After that, the rennet is soaked in things like whey, wine or vinegar for flavoring and
then it's all-filtered.
Brings a whole new meaning to "Cutting the Cheese".
And yes, we've basically ruined every single member of the food pyramid now.
We're so sorry... but also, strangely hungry.
We hope you that haven’t lost your appetite for great videos though!
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Thanks for watching, and catch ya next time.