Just because a food has been FDA-approved, that doesn't necessarily mean you want to
eat it.
Look past the packaging of some of your favorite foods, and well, once you learn what's really
in them, you might never want to go anywhere near them again.
Worcestershire sauce is a must-have in many kitchens, but we're here to warn you that
if you don't like fish, well, you might want to rethink that particular little bottle.
Lea & Perrins is the company that first made Worcestershire sauce, and they've been doing
it since the 1830s.
And true Worcestershire sauce includes things like onions, molasses, and lots of seasonings,
but the main ingredient isn't just anchovies, it's anchovies that have been fermenting in
vinegar for around 18 months.
Say what now?
Worcestershire sauce happened when one of the early attempts by chemists actually named
Lea and Perrins was so awful that they put it in the cellar and left it there, hoping
to forget about it.
When they got ready to dump it months later, they tried it first...and found it had mellowed
into something pretty delicious.
Still, that doesn't change the fact that the core ingredient is the same fish you refuse
to eat on your pizza...only they've been sitting in vinegar, bubbling away for a year and a
half.
You'll never be able to un-know that.
It might seem strange that we not only put both marshmallows and Jell-O on this list,
but put them on the list together.
They're both childhood favorites after all, the stuff of summer afternoons and evenings
around the campfire.
Sure, they're delicious in a weird sort of way, but it turns out there's some seriously
icky science behind what gives both of these sweet treats their distinctive texture.
And that's gelatin.
At one time, marshmallows were made from the marshmallow plant, but according to Scientific
American, most commercial marshmallows are now made with gelatin, corn syrup, and sugar.
Yum?
Not exactly.
As for Jell-O, that's got a ton of gelatin in it, Healthline calls it a "gelatin-based
dessert," and adds that yes, gelatin is the primary ingredient.
So, what is gelatin?
It's an ingredient that's made by taking the hides and bones of pigs and cows, boiling
them, then drying them.
The resulting product is then treated with a substance that's either strongly acidic
or a strong base, then it's filtered to remove the collagen, or connective tissues.
The collagen is dried and ground, and that's where gelatin comes from.
Contrary to popular rumors, gelatin isn't made from animal hooves, but that doesn't
really make it much better.
"That's my stapler…"
"No, no, no, do NOT take it out.
You have to eat it out of there.
Because there are starving people in the world, and, which I hate."
Who doesn't love jelly beans, the stuff of Easter baskets and candy dishes throughout
the spring?
They're shiny little nuggets of sugary flavor, and while we're talking about shiny, let's
look at where that shiny comes from.
The coating of most jelly beans is actually called shellac, and if that rings some mental
bells that make you think of woodworking class in high school, there's a very good reason
for it, it's the same stuff that's been used to add a clear finish to wooden furniture
for years, along with setting jewels and repairing broken pottery.
That's got your attention, right?
We're not done yet.
Shellac comes from the female lac bug.
The lac bug drinks tree sap, then secretes a resin that's harvested from where it's deposited
onto trees.
It's processed, dissolved in ethanol, and then sprayed on everything from hardwood floors
to jelly beans.
That's not the only sweet it's used in, either, it's often an ingredient in confectioner's
glazes, and if you see an additive identified by the code E904, you're eating bug secretions.
Oranges aren't in season year-around, but orange juice is always around.
How the heck does that happen?
Alissa Hamilton, author of Squeezed: What You Don't Know About Orange Juice, says that
both orange juices labeled "from concentrate" and "not from concentrate" have a trick up
their sleeve: flavor packs.
Flavor packs are added to the orange juice to add, well, flavor and scent, and here's
her explanation of what they are:
"Flavor packs are fabricated from the chemicals that make up orange essence and oil.
Flavor fragrance houses, the same ones that make high end perfumes, break down orange
essence and oils into the constituent chemicals and then reassemble the individual chemicals
in configurations that resemble nothing found in nature."
For example, one of the chemicals in your orange juice is ethyl butyrate, and there's
a lot of it added to get that fresh-squeezed orange juice smell.
Why are these necessary?
Because orange juice is made by squeezing oranges and then removing the oxygen to prolong
the amount of time it can be stored before it's bottled.
But removing oxygen removes flavor, so they have to put it back somehow.
Enter, the flavor packs, which, incidentally, is what makes one type of orange juice taste
different than the competitors.
Cringe.
Let's be honest: the best part about a salad is the dressing, and Caesar salad is great,
because usually, it's all covered in dressing.
It's got that distinctive, tangy taste, and, well, if you're a vegetarian, you're going
to want to stop ordering this at a restaurant.
Like, ASAP.
That tang you love in your Caesar salad dressing?
That comes from Worcestershire sauce and anchovies.
Yep, that's right, the same little fishies that make you want to give up pizza forever
when you see them staring up at you with their blank, unseeing eyes.
Those are the ones.
Even Kraft warns that their Caesar dressing comes with fish as a potential allergen and
in their case, it's in the form of anchovy paste.
Martha Stewart's Classic Caesar Salad calls for 4 anchovy fillets, and as for The New
York Times's classic version, you guessed it: at least a few tablespoons of minced anchovies,
and hey, more if you like!
Yes, it's true, there's something in beer that's not only pretty gross, but that makes
many brews completely unsuitable for vegetarians.
The ingredient in question is called isinglass, and it's essentially a gelatine made from
the swim bladder of fish.
It's been used for a long time, since the 19th century, according to the BBC.
It's basically added to beers to help clarify them, because everyone likes a clear, brightly-colored
pint, no matter what kind of beer you prefer.
The bonus of using isinglass is that it doesn't change the taste or the smell of the beer,
but that's little comfort to either vegetarians, or people who like their beer fish-free.
This is one thing that might be changing, though, as brewers are looking for new, less
icky methods of clarifying beer.
Some new craft breweries are going out of their way to find new clarifying agents, including
Irish moss.
Vegetarians, rejoice!
When it comes time to pick up some cheese, do you grab a block and shred it yourself,
or do you opt for the bag of shredded cheddar and bottle of the grated Parmesan?
You might want to rethink your shopping list, because there could be wood pulp in those
packages.
More precisely, it's called cellulose, and it's often added to shredded and grated cheeses
to prevent the product from turning back into a clump.
And here's the thing, while there's a ton of sensationalized headlines claiming you're
eating a byproduct of the wood industry, that's not actually the problem.
Cellulose is used in a ton of things, and it's perfectly safe and perfectly legal.
No one wants clumpy cheese, after all.
So, what's the problem?
For one, you're getting ripped off.
Even though the package might claim you're buying 100 percent real Parmesan, you're absolutely
not getting a product that's just pure Parmesan.
And it's such a big deal that lawsuits have been filed over it.
The company behind Castle Cheese brand was handed a $500,000 fine for mislabeling their
cheese, essentially, they had added cellulose and cheddar to their "Parmesan" cheese, then
just sort of forgot to put it on the label.
It's no wonder, cellulose is an incredibly cheap filler that can allow companies to stretch
their product and rake in the bucks.
So, if you want the real thing?
Just buy a brick and shred or grate it yourself.
Wait, first shredded cheese, and now just cheese?
Sadly, yes.
There's something gross that goes into making most cheeses, too, and buckle up, because
this is going to get surprisingly sad.
In order to make cheese, cheesemakers have to get milk to coagulate into curd.
According to the New England Cheese Making Supply Co., that's usually done using an enzyme
called rennet.
And, rennet comes from an enzyme which is only present in the lining of the stomach
of a goat, lamb, or calf...but not any goat, lamb, or calf.
It's only able to be harvested while the animal is still on an all-milk diet, which means
they're young enough to still be nursing.
The enzyme in question is what allows baby animals to digest their mother's milk, but
the industry doesn't just slaughter babies wholesale for their rennet.
It's usually harvested after the animal is slaughtered and sold for its meat, as a way
of using as much of the animal as possible.
There are different types of rennet out there, including vegetable, plant, and genetically-engineered,
but the FDA doesn't require cheesemakers to label their product with the type of rennet
they use.
Sure, everyone loves some cheese and crackers, but...ew.
"Darren had the cheese touch.
It was worse than nuclear cooties."
You might not think twice about grabbing a package of ground beef for Taco Tuesday, but
you should know that there's a good chance it might have been treated with carbon monoxide.
We all know how dangerous that is when it's in our homes, but what about when it's in
our food?
The carbon monoxide itself is actually harmless, it's such a small amount.
But there's still a danger.
It's used because it helps keep that bright red color, that color we associate with fresh
meat, even after the meat has been exposed to oxygen, which could turn it gray.
The problem is that it helps it keep that color even well past the point where it's
actually spoiled.
And that means it's entirely possible you might pick up some old meat at the grocery
store without ever knowing it thanks to that sneaky ingredient...and that's not ok.
The technical term for it is "modified atmosphere packaging," and many countries have banned
the practice of using carbon monoxide because of its potentially misleading effects.
And that?
That's food for thought.
Chewing gum is definitely one of those love-or-hate things, and after you find out just what you're
chewing on, it might fall into the "hate" category.
The main part of gum is the gum base, and that's essentially the part that makes it
rubbery and chewable.
Since that's such a basic component of what makes gum, well, gum, manufacturers don't
have to specify how it's made.
"Don't you know what this is?"
"By gum, it's gum!"
"Wrong!
It's the most amazing, fabulous, sensational gum in the world!"
"What's so fab about it?"
Some types of gum are made with lanolin, and what the heck is that?
Lanolin is a waxy substance secreted by the wool of sheep.
Weren't expecting that, were you?
According to Healthline, it's the sheep version of something humans have, too, and that's
called a sebum.
Have you ever noticed that your nose might suddenly feel particularly waxy, shiny, or
oily?
That stuff is sebum.
When it comes to sheep, they excrete lanolin as a sort of natural type of wool conditioner.
It helps keep their wool waterproof, and when sheep are sheared and wool is processed, it's
removed from the wool by putting it through a centrifuge.
It's a common ingredient in things like lotions and moisturizers...and chewing gum.
It's pretty safe, although health officials warn you shouldn't swallow a lot of it, because
it can cause lanolin oil poisoning.
It's also possible that if you're sensitive to wool you might have an allergic reaction
to lanolin, so you might want to put the brakes on that chewing gum habit.
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
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