If you're still reeling from the horsemeat scandal, hold on to your
hats – there may well be arsenic in your beer and rat hair in your chocolate
Since the horsemeat scandal, more of us than ever before are holding a
microscope up to what we eat. But no matter how many labels you read, you could
still be consuming things you'd rather put on your "do not eat" list.
From human hair in our bread to fish bladder in our beer, there are a lot of
additives and food processing techniques that employ ingredients and chemicals
few would classify as "appetising". It's a reminder, frankly, that
non-processed foods are your best bet.
Arsenic
Traces of arsenic in food are nothing new. The potent human carcinogen
arsenic has been known to turn up in everything from rice to cereal to juice,
and most recently German researchers found traces of it in beer, noting some
levels found were more than twice than what is allowed in drinking water.
Traces of arsenic can actually be found in both beers and wine that are clearer
in colour. That's because they will have been filtered to get rid of plant
matter and leftover yeast; most people don't want to drink a cloudy pinot
grigio after all. To filter, beer and winemakers use diatomaceous earth, a
natural product that contains iron and metals; hence the arsenic. Want less
arsenic in your drink? Opt for drinks that are unfiltered.
Human hair
Amino acids are your body's building blocks, and while they can be good
for your health, not all amino acids are created equal. L-Cysteine – an amino
acid used to prolong shelf-life in products such as commercial bread – can be
found in duck and chicken feathers and cow horns, but most that's used in food
comes from human hair. It has been reported that most of the hair used to make
L-Cysteine comes from China, where it's gathered from barbershops and hair
salons. You can avoid L-Cysteine by buying fresh bread from a local baker, as
it is not an additive in flour. Steer clear of fast food places such as
McDonald's, Dunkin' Donuts and Burger King too, who all use L-Cysteine as an
additive.
Antifreeze
You're not drinking straight antifreeze when you down a soft drink, but
if your drink of choice has propylene glycol in it you're consuming a compound
that's used for everything from antifreeze to cosmetics to pharmaceuticals to
electronic cigarettes. Its properties are many, so it's no surprise that
chemical companies such as DOW get excited about its potential in the corporate
food world. It's also a minor ingredient in Corexit, the oil dispersant that
was used after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Fortunately, if you live in the
European Union, propylene glycol is not cleared as a general-purpose food grade
product or direct food additive.
Beaver anal glands
If you're eating vanilla, strawberry or raspberry ice-cream, you may
just be eating beaver's anal and urine secretions. Castoreum, which comes from
the castor sacs of male and female beavers, is an FDA-approved food additive
popular in ice-creams, and allowed to be called "natural flavouring",
meaning you probably don't know that you are eating it.
Fish bladder
A round of beers may sound like the perfect way to celebrate with
vegetarian and vegan friends alike, but watch what beer you're drinking.
Isinglass is a gelatin-like substance produced from the swim bladder of a fish.
It's added to cask beers and Guinness, to help remove any "haziness"
from the final product - removing any residue yeast or solid particles in the
beer – which means you could end up with a trace of fish bladder in your pint
glass.
Coal tar
Many processed foods are known for including a long list of dyes, and
many of those dyes are derived from coal tar. Yellow #5, also known as
tartrazine, was linked to childhood hyperactivity in 2007 and since then any
product in the EU that contains it must also come with a warning label. In the
US, however, there is no such regulation. Concern over the food colouring
recently prompted bloggers to petition Kraft to remove the dyes from their
popular macaroni cheese product.
Silicone breast implant filler
Chicken McNuggets from McDonald's aren't known for being the healthiest
thing on the planet, but they're not really known for being "chicken"
either. The nuggets are actually only about 50% actual chicken; the rest
comprises synthetic ingredients, including dimethylpolysiloxane, a chemical
used in silicone that can be found in Silly Putty as well as breast implant
filler.
Boiled beetle shells
Natural Red #4 may sound harmless, but the food colouring – also known
as carmine – is made by boiling female cochineal insect shells in ammonia or a
sodium carbonate solution. It takes about 70,000 of the bugs to produce one
pound of dye. Coffee giant Starbucks got slammed in 2012 for using the additive
in their frappuccinos and eventually binned it, but it's a commonly employed
ingredient in many foods. The European Food Standards Authority recently
included it as an additive to research more. But while some may feel queasy at
the thought of consuming bugs, the synthetic alternatives to this natural dye,
such as Red #2 and Red #40, are made from petroleum products. Pick your poison.
Rodent hair
Producing food products in an industrial facility is nothing like cooking
at home, and certainly a big warehouse space is sure to be home to a few
rodents here and there. Maybe that's why the US FDA allows for certain amounts
of rodent hair in various products, something they call an "unavoidable
defects": one rodent hair for every 100g chocolate, 22 rodent hairs for
every 100g cinnamon and five rodent hairs for every 18oz jar of peanut butter.
Yum.
Borax
Banned in the US and Canada as a food additive but allowed in the EU,
borax is also known for making its way into fire-retardant, anti-fungal
compounds and enamel. E285, as it's known in the food world, is used to control
acidity in products as well as assist in preservation. You'll find it in some
caviars – including those imported to the US – as well as various Asian noodle
and rice dishes as it adds a firm, rubbery texture to foods.
Source: http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2013/may/13/10-gross-ingredients-food-horsemeat-scandal
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