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“You don’t want to know how the sausage is made.” The old adage is true. Trust us. Some facts about food are best left moldering in the dark, humid corner behind your kitchen cabinet. So don’t read on, dear Pandas. Don’t-- oh well. It looks like we’re not going to be able to stop you curious Pandas from checking out the true-but-disgusting food facts that the Bored Panda team has collected. They’re perfect for the spookfest that is October, just not great for your stomach.
Go on, then, scroll on down. Just remember to upvote your fave yucky and icky facts and share any other ones that you know in the comment section below. But please, promise us one thing—make sure you’re not snacking on anything as you’re reading this post!
How many bugs can legally be in your food? What’s the name of the cheese that you should steer clear of if you’re not a fan of chomping on live insects? Why is my appetite suddenly gone? The answers to these and other questions are below.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Worked at Subway 2010-12. Only thing I have to say is that tuna and seafood packaged used to have a label on it that said that it didn't contain dolphin or turtles in the meat, then that label suddenly disappeared in 2012.
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#2
I used to work in a baseball park concession stand. The short answer is not to order anything, but if you absolutely have to buy something, don't buy the hotdogs.
Do not. Buy. The hot dogs.
They made it out of the package okay, and might even have been edible after we finished grilling them - and then they went into the water. We kept three pans of water at the back of the grill, that held the hot dogs. Any hot dogs left at the end of the day went back into the fridge, and came out again the next day. Me and the other cook put our feet down on throwing out the water and old hot dogs after two full days, but the management didn't want to let us.
Oh, and our freezer broke so all the meat got stored in the ice bin. And our management always told us when the surprise health inspections were gonna show up, usually a week or so in advance.
#3
Salami isnt cooked. It is technically a raw product. In its production good bacteria is added that decreased* the ph to a point that harmful bacteria such as e. coli and listeria can't survive, which then make it safe to eat. Not to mention the cool fungus that grows on the casing to protect it from dying out too much. Very neat. (Meat Science major, we make Salami and other meat products on campus in a dinky meat lab)
"It is economically impractical to grow, harvest, or process raw products that are totally free of non-hazardous, naturally occurring, unavoidable defects," explains the United States Food and Drug Administration (aka the FDA).
Translated from corporate-speak, this means that it’s not possible for food products to be completely free from bits of bugs, mold, animal hair, and other parts of the Great Outdoors. Sure, it might sound yucky, but we don’t even notice these ‘food defects’ the vast majority of the time and we’ve been swallowing them our entire lives.
However, nobody wants to be chomping down on chocolate bars that are entirely made up of insects. So the FDA has guidelines to keep icky bits of Mother Nature out of your snacks. For instance, CNN reports that the FDA allows an average of 10 milligrams of animal poop per pound of coffee. What’s more, 4 to 6% of the coffee beans are allowed to be moldy or infested by insects.
#4
There is always cow feces in all milk. Cows' assholes are right above the udder. Udders are cleaned before attaching the milking machines, but sh** happens all day long while cows are getting milked. Once you see a milking operation, you'll be REALLY glad to know that they literally pasteurize the shit out of that milk.
#5
One of the most expensive forms of coffee is Kopi Luwak which is coffee beans that have been eaten by a Asian Palm Civet and pooped out and can run up to $700 a kilo.
Bardhi's Dad 4 years ago
I know this from the movie "The Bucket List", starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman
#6
You should not feed honey to children under one years old because it contains spores of a bacterium that will produce the possibly deadliest poison known to mankind
Wouter Berg 4 years ago
Botulism. It's called botulism. So don't give your young children honey. Also - no alcohol.
Meanwhile, peanut butter and jelly sandwich lovers should look away from this paragraph. FDA standards permit an average of one or more rodent hairs and around 30 insect fragments for every 100 grams of peanut butter. Jelly and jam aren’t controlled, unfortunately. So something like apple butter can contain an average of 4+ rodent hairs for every 100 grams and around 5 whole insects. That’s in addition to the aphids and mites.
Finally, let’s ruin raisins for you, dear Readers. Do you know those iconic kid-sized boxes? They’ve got around 4 fruit fly eggs and a whole insect in each box. We hope that we haven’t ruined your appetite forever, dear Pandas!
#7
Casu marzu. There exists a cheese that contains live maggot larvae on purpose.
Foxxy (The Original) 4 years ago
I always wonder what goes through peoples minds before they eat something like this. Do they just think, ooh I wonder if maggot cheese tastes good, or I wonder if I can make coffee from an animals excrements etc.
#8
The roe and milt of certain fish is a common delicacy across the world, including sturgeon roe, otherwise known as caviar.
While roe is widely known to be fish eggs, it's not so well known that milt is fish sperm.
#9
Grocery stores will sometimes mix in food colouring in with near expiration date meat to make it look fresh
#10
Usually because no restaurant ever has cleaned out the ice machine. It also depends on what they use to scoop the ice out of the machines. If you got people with dirty hands with a scoop scooping out ice you can imagine all the nasty particles that rub off on the ice etc. Do that 4-5 times a day and you see the potential for nasty to accumulate.
#11
They use shellac to make some different foods and candies more shiny. Shellac is an excretion from the lac beetle.
#12
Canned pineapple can pack in up to 20% moldy fruit.
F. H. 4 years ago
Still, it's more sustainable to buy pineappe canned than whole fruits. If you chop the top of a pineapple off and put it on the ground, it will grow again. That takes much less fertilizer and water than growing it from seeds. That's what is done if the fruit goes directly to canning.
#13
In the United States companies can legally sell curry powder that contains less than 100 insect fragments per 25 grams
Hops with less than 2500 aphids per 10 grams and coffee as long as less than 10% of beans are moldy.
Even with modern technology, all defects in goods cannot be eliminated. As a result, the Food and Drug Administration has set allowable defect or "tolerance levels."
#14
Some raspberry flavorings come from beaver anal glands.
zims 4 years ago
Who...figured that out. Who in history smelled and tasted beaver a**s and said "tastes like raspberries."
A.E. Marlowe 4 years ago
Listen... what I do in my spare time is my business....
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Marcia Cash 4 years ago
artificial banana flavor is acetylene, cherry is cyanide, who knows what strawberry flavor really is?
Douglas Campbell 4 years ago
That explains why artificial banana tastes like nail polish remover.
Load More Replies... Douglas Campbell 4 years ago
FALSE. According to The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, castoreum was first used as a food additive in the early 20th century, but is now rarely, if ever, used in the mass-produced flavor industry.
k1ddkanuck 4 years ago
This is also true for the Musk Deer in India. Which, fun fact, has saberteeth.
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Olivia Agave 4 years ago
Castoreum (beaver butt gland juice) can be used in this manner but artificial stuff is quicker and cheaper to mass produce. Any product containing castoreum is going to be really expensive due to how little is produced every year.
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Christophe Beunens 4 years ago
actually, this beaver-oil is so expensive that you will not find it in any cheap product. But you do spray it on you with many perfumes.
F. H. 4 years ago
No. You either produce it in the lab or use real vanilla. What good would it do to use a natural flavouring that is not the real thing but much more expensive.
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Brandy Grote 4 years ago
In 1700s, beaver a**l glands were dried, ground up, and used as pain reliever. Beavers liked to chew on willow bark... aspirin was made from willow bark originally.
Mandy Delaforce (PC Girl) 4 years ago
This one is not true - it's VANILLA that comes from a beavers butt.
Olivia Agave 4 years ago
That is just as untrue - artificial vanilla flavouring comes from wood.
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Miguel Denyer 4 years ago
So now we know how "Blowing Raspberries" came to be a term for making fart sounds...
Olivia Agave 4 years ago
Less than 1% of it. Castoreum is produced in such little quantities and artificial flavourings are so much easier to mass produce that anything with castoreum in it is going to be very expensive.
COcO BAMa 4 years ago
but disgusting and bad for the beavers reproduction
Load More Replies... #15
Shrimps diet consists mainly of poop. If you've ever eaten shrimp, you've eaten poop from potentially thousands of different animals including humans.
Foxxy (The Original) 4 years ago
We eat poop all the bloody time without knowing, whether it is from fruits, veg, peanut butter etc. You cannot escape it, so you just have to get used to the idea.
#16
Every time you eat fresh produce, you're taking the risk that no one who touched it also didn't poop in their hands. So, wash everything and enjoy your salad.
Prepackaged salads are an excellent source of bacteria. The salad gets washed once, then is sold to you.
#17
The contents in a jar of peanut butter contains on average 2 bugs.
#19
FDA regulations state that ten insects and 35 fruit fly eggs per 8 oz. of raisins is OK. It doesn't stop at raisins, though.
Haunting Spirit 4 years ago
Long live European regulations that makes this nonsense impossible.
#20
Lemons have the highest fecal content of any food found in most restaurant kitchens.
#21
Frozen broccoli must have an average of no more than 60 aphids or thrips or mites per 100 grams.
Awesome horse lover 4 years ago
Argh for Pete’s sake! Bugs are a good source of protein anyway.
#22
This is the most disgusting defect in the FDA approved list! Yes, 1 kilogram of wheat may contain upto 9 rodent poop pellets. Even your favourite popcorn may contain upto 4 pellets of rodent poop. The presence of a small amount of mammalian excreta is considered to be safe for consumption.
#23
chocolate bars have an average of 8 insect legs in it.
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
And they use these legs to escape. I know for sure because all my chocolate bars always magically disappear.
#24
Oregano can legally contain up to 1,250 insect fragments per 10 grams.
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
And what is the size of those insect fragments? If you're going to microscopic level, every single piece of food is contaminated in one way or another.
#25
Tomato paste is considered bad only if more than 45 percent contains mold.
Foxxy (The Original) 4 years ago
I am sorry but if it contains just one tid bit of mould, it is going in the bin.
#26
As much as five percent of your maraschino cherries can legally contain maggots.
#27
Figs have dead wasps inside them.
Foxxy (The Original) 4 years ago (edited)
Never encountered a wasp in any fig I have ever eaten.
#28
Berries can harbor up to 4 larvae per 100 grams.
#29
Cinnamon can carry up to 1 milligram of animal excrement per pound.
#30
Up to 10 percent of canned asparagus can harbor asparagus beetles or egg sacs.
Kisses4Katie 4 years ago
I've been psyching myself up over eating bugs one day (most likely cricket flour). I tell myself things like shrimp and crab are seabugs, and they are pretty good.
What do you think ?
Monday 4 years ago
Same...I was hoping for some surprisingly gross stuff not "OMG insect parts!".
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no_name 4 years ago
Eating small amounts of contamination in our food is good for our immune system, it makes us stronger. You just can't, like, eat completely moldy ananas, that doesn't make you any good. You never pluck an apple or peach straight from a tree and eat it without washing? I can't remember how many times I have eaten any kinds of fruit in the woods or in the garden. With livestock it's slightly different, there are higher risks but too much worry only makes you paranoid.
F. H. 4 years ago
Exactly that. If you grow food in your garden, it will have a ton of natural contamination, much more than store-bought food is allowed to have. You'll have dirt and beetles in your salad all the time if you don't take care.
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Steffen Beth 4 years ago
This got to one of the dumbest lists I have seen in a long time, most items are just wrong, or whatever amount is so small that it does not matter....
Jolee Koop 4 years ago
This felt like it was only about how much poop is allowed (not guaranteed) in your food. Good annoying after the first 5 talking about it.
SirPatTheCat 4 years ago
Eh extra protein you know. As long as there isn’t like a 3 inch cockroach or an entire dog turd who cares...
Sarah 4 years ago
Also, back in the olden days(I forgot when) a guy got a job at a meat factory and wrote a book about his experiences. Apparently, careless workers can get parts of their body chopped off and blended in with the meat, and mice run around it the tube that they use to make sausages, so you could potentially be eating human and mouse poop. This is why I don't eat hot dogs.
andate him 4 years ago
This is why you eat kosher food. They have strict rules about eating insects insect, and the food is generally much cleaner
Gonzalo Terán 4 years ago
Yummy! What doesn´t kill you, makes you stronger... Ignorance is bliss I guess...
Kristin Ingersoll 4 years ago
So... There's a lot of bugs in food. Shocker. This was so stupid, my brain hurts.
Malakai 4 years ago
Some things like the hot dogs and the ice machine, yeah, you should take care to avoid because those are some real health concerns or just plain nasty. The rest though? Even if all of it were true then the only way to avoid it would be to mever eat anything. Ever. Except the maggot cheese and literal poop coffee. That's just disgusting.
Kel Gal 4 years ago
Well, I used to eat play-doh when I was a kid, so I think I’ll survive a few bugs and some poop.
F. H. 4 years ago
Isn't play-doh just starch putty with a ton of salt and food colouring? That's why it can grow mold.
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Sent From The Slytherin House 4 years ago
It was all about insects and poop. I liked it, but I was expecting a bit more out of it.
Sasy 4 years ago
When tomatoes travel on conveyor belts to make Tomatoe Sauce/Ketchup, the ones that fall off are shoveled up off the floor and thrown back in...was told that as a kid by a friend that worked for Rosella. Still do not care, have dropped plenty of tomatoes on the floor in my lifetime, did three yesterday alone.
Abigail Kreiss 4 years ago
These mentioned the highest allowable levels. Most marketed foods in the U.S.will be of a higher quality.
B-b-bird 4 years ago
We need to eat something anyway... for peets sake :) everything is organic... we are organic at the end...
Rose the Cook 4 years ago
The only surprise here is the bug and poop content that American authorities allow in food.
qwerty 4 years ago
Ummm... you do realize that most of these foods can be considered vegetarian, right?
Load More Replies... Monday 4 years ago
Same...I was hoping for some surprisingly gross stuff not "OMG insect parts!".
Load More Replies... no_name 4 years ago
Eating small amounts of contamination in our food is good for our immune system, it makes us stronger. You just can't, like, eat completely moldy ananas, that doesn't make you any good. You never pluck an apple or peach straight from a tree and eat it without washing? I can't remember how many times I have eaten any kinds of fruit in the woods or in the garden. With livestock it's slightly different, there are higher risks but too much worry only makes you paranoid.
F. H. 4 years ago
Exactly that. If you grow food in your garden, it will have a ton of natural contamination, much more than store-bought food is allowed to have. You'll have dirt and beetles in your salad all the time if you don't take care.
Load More Replies... Steffen Beth 4 years ago
This got to one of the dumbest lists I have seen in a long time, most items are just wrong, or whatever amount is so small that it does not matter....
Jolee Koop 4 years ago
This felt like it was only about how much poop is allowed (not guaranteed) in your food. Good annoying after the first 5 talking about it.
SirPatTheCat 4 years ago
Eh extra protein you know. As long as there isn’t like a 3 inch cockroach or an entire dog turd who cares...
Sarah 4 years ago
Also, back in the olden days(I forgot when) a guy got a job at a meat factory and wrote a book about his experiences. Apparently, careless workers can get parts of their body chopped off and blended in with the meat, and mice run around it the tube that they use to make sausages, so you could potentially be eating human and mouse poop. This is why I don't eat hot dogs.
andate him 4 years ago
This is why you eat kosher food. They have strict rules about eating insects insect, and the food is generally much cleaner
Gonzalo Terán 4 years ago
Yummy! What doesn´t kill you, makes you stronger... Ignorance is bliss I guess...
Kristin Ingersoll 4 years ago
So... There's a lot of bugs in food. Shocker. This was so stupid, my brain hurts.
Malakai 4 years ago
Some things like the hot dogs and the ice machine, yeah, you should take care to avoid because those are some real health concerns or just plain nasty. The rest though? Even if all of it were true then the only way to avoid it would be to mever eat anything. Ever. Except the maggot cheese and literal poop coffee. That's just disgusting.
Kel Gal 4 years ago
Well, I used to eat play-doh when I was a kid, so I think I’ll survive a few bugs and some poop.
F. H. 4 years ago
Isn't play-doh just starch putty with a ton of salt and food colouring? That's why it can grow mold.
Load More Replies... Sent From The Slytherin House 4 years ago
It was all about insects and poop. I liked it, but I was expecting a bit more out of it.
Sasy 4 years ago
When tomatoes travel on conveyor belts to make Tomatoe Sauce/Ketchup, the ones that fall off are shoveled up off the floor and thrown back in...was told that as a kid by a friend that worked for Rosella. Still do not care, have dropped plenty of tomatoes on the floor in my lifetime, did three yesterday alone.
Abigail Kreiss 4 years ago
These mentioned the highest allowable levels. Most marketed foods in the U.S.will be of a higher quality.
B-b-bird 4 years ago
We need to eat something anyway... for peets sake :) everything is organic... we are organic at the end...
Rose the Cook 4 years ago
The only surprise here is the bug and poop content that American authorities allow in food.
qwerty 4 years ago
Ummm... you do realize that most of these foods can be considered vegetarian, right?
Load More Replies...
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