A Few Food Facts You’ll Wish You Didn’t Know

If you love food the way it is, you probably don’t want to read this article. However, if you’re genuinely curious about how food is made, then continue reading. But be warned, afterward, you might never want to eat some things again. 

What’s in peanut butter?!

Peanut butter is made from ground-up peanuts. Sometimes, rat hairs might find their way into the mix or a few insects might fall in. The FDA allows a certain amount of insect fragments and rat hairs, which means an 18-ounce jar may have up to 150 insect parts and five-plus rodent hairs. Yum.

What comes from beavers?!

Do you love “natural” vanilla, strawberry, and raspberry flavors? If you do, then you should know that that “vanilla” flavor comes from beaver anal glands. Real vanilla, from vanilla bean, is unbelievably expensive. So, to get that yummy vanilla flavor into ice cream, yogurt, drinks, and candy, using beaver anal gland secretions is a much cheaper option. 

Candy corn and what?!

You know that crunchy covering on the outside of candy corn, jelly beans, and gum? It’s called shellac and it comes from the secretions of an insect called Kerria lacca. Pretty much any candy or food with that outer shell has shellac, except for M&Ms. Next time your sweet tooth kicks in, choose wisely.

How much sugar is in Coke?!

Coke is a bubbly beverage that refreshes and gives some people that much-needed afternoon pick-me-up. Part of it is the caffeine content, the other part is due to the 9 teaspoons of sugar that’s present in one can of Coke. Yes, you read that right… 9 whole teaspoons. The reason Coke doesn’t taste overwhelmingly sweet because of the acid that’s added. So, not only are you consuming empty calories, but you’re also eroding your teeth and making it hard for your body to absorb calcium all at the same time.

There’s what in canned pineapple?!

Not all fruit is pretty and bruise or mold-free. The stuff that you find in the produce section of the grocery store needs to be pretty so people will buy it. But the canned stuffed? It’s totally fine for about 20% of the canned pineapple to contain mold. As long as the mold doesn’t hurt you, the FDA is alright with it. If this grosses you out, then it might be time to limit your diet to fresh pineapple.

Reprinted with permission from https://werax.com/a-few-food-facts-youll-wish-you-didnt-know/