Who is ready for some horror stories about the way food is processed? Some people don’t really want to know how the sausage gets made because frankly, it’s gross.

 From rodent-based food additives to chemical preservatives to non-food elements showing up on our plates, we usually have no idea what actually goes down at the manufacturer. Time to look behind the curtain, people.  

1. Canned Mushrooms

If there is one food you might certainly not consider consuming for a long period of time, it certainly has to do with canned mushrooms.

It has been found in a contaminated can is noted for causing hallucinations. It is believed some of them contain toxins that cause that.

It is also noted that most canned mushrooms cause Gastrointestinal illness such as nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps and diarrhoea.

What we need to understand is the fact there isn’t anything wrong with consuming mushrooms but the problem has to do with the container they find themselves in as most cans contain toxins that are harmful to the human system.

  2. Chicken Nuggets

 The rumor that chicken nuggets are made with pink slime is false, but the real process for making them isn’t too much better.   The meat that they are based on is in fact ground chicken breast.

But, it only makes up about 50% of the nugget – the rest is ground chicken skin, bone, blood vessels, and connective tissues, plus fat. They also contain some salt, sugar, starch, and “binders and fillers”, which according to research can lead to cancer.

3. Coffee Creamer

 Liquid non-dairy creamers have the color and consistency of cream but are entirely made of oil.

That velvety mouthfeel is achieved with thickening agents and emulsifiers such as carrageenan, an ingredient that tends to cause inflammation and digestive issues.

Other texturizers include cellulose gel and cellulose gum, tasty fillers derived from wood pulp or cotton. Powdered creamers are so removed from actual cream that they are flammable, and that’s on top of tasting disgusting.

4. Mountain Dew

 Long the favorite of caffeine junkies everywhere, Mountain Dew is so chemical laden that you wouldn’t want to drink the dew off of any mountain it came from.

That powerful citrus flavor is created with a chemical called brominated vegetable oil or BVO.   And by the way, BVO is also used as a flame retardant. Besides Mountain Dew, it shows up in the sodas Squirt, Fanta Orange, Sunkist Pineapple, Gatorade Thirst Quencher Orange, Powerade Strawberry Lemonade, and Fresca Original Citrus.

BVO has been banned in foods from Europe and Japan, but not the good old USA. Overexposure to BVO had led some people to need medical attention for skin lesions, memory loss, and nerve disorders. Get your caffeine some other way.

  5. Cheese

  You want to believe that cheese is vegetarian, right? No animals killed in the production? Well, that’s not always the case. Most cheeses contain a compound called rennet, which is traditionally found in the stomach of nursing calves.  

It may not be impossible to find cheese that you can eat without turning your stomach. Approximately 80% of rennet used today has been genetically engineered by inserting cow DNA into certain bacteria, fungi, and yeasts.

6. Shredded Cheese

  If you’ve ever used pre-shredded cheese as a convenience, you may have noticed that it has a distinctly different texture than cheese you shred yourself. That’s because bagged shredded cheese contains a significant amount of wood pulp.  

To be fair, natural shredded cheese would absolutely clump back together during shipping if not for some sort of desiccant material. But really, it might be worth investing the time to shred some cheese fresh at home when you need it.

7. Salad Dressing

 We get it, eating dry lettuce is not very appetizing. You need a little something to make it palatable. Unfortunately, most commercial salad dressings use a nanoparticle called titanium dioxide to add a pleasing white hue.  

Titanium dioxide is also a chief ingredient in sunscreen and consuming too much of it has been shown to lead to stomach cancer. You don’t have to eat your salads bare, though. Salad dressing is a surprisingly easy thing to make from scratch.

8. Beer

 Sometimes there’s nothing better than a tall frosty glass of beer. There are all different types and textures of beer, but the beautiful see-through amber versions are hiding a yucky secret.  

As if the fermentation process isn’t gross enough when you really think about it, beer includes an ingredient called isinglass to help make the product more clear and bright. Isinglass comes from fish – it’s a type of gelatin made from dried fish bladders.  

9. Vanilla Ice Cream

Made fresh and home, true ice cream contains milk, sugar, cream, eggs, and flavoring. Of course, mass-produced ice cream has got to be done differently, so grocery store ice cream may contain a stabilizer called castoreum.  

No big deal, but you probably want to know that castoreum is secreted from the anal glands of beavers. Not to worry, though, this product is unsurprisingly difficult to harvest, so it is not used very widely.  

10. Frozen Meats

 Frozen meats are a handy go-to if you’re in a hurry but need a little fuel. They come in a huge variety of meals, both with side dishes and without. Some even contain desserts.  

However, these meals are often chock full of salt and artificial preservatives designed to make the food edible when it finally comes out of deep freeze.

By the time you heat and eat your meat, it has likely been frozen for several years, and it never looks anything like the picture on the box.  

11. Jello and Marshmallows

 Jello and marshmallows are both products made using gelatin (and a lot of sugar). Plain gelatin seems like an innocent translucent powder, but it is made by boiling down the skin, bones, and hooves of cows and pigs.  

All sorts of scrap from slaughtered animals can be used, so once you get over the yuck factor, it is kind of good that very little is wasted of animals who give their lives for ours.  

12. Most Pizzas

Pizza is a savory dish of Italian origin consisting of a usually round, flattened base of leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomatoes, cheese, and often various other ingredients, which is then baked at a high temperature, traditionally in a wood-fired oven. A small pizza is sometimes called a pizzetta.

But Pizza is one of the world’s most popular junk foods. Most commercial pizzas are made with unhealthy ingredients, including highly refined dough and heavily processed meat. Pizza also tends to be extremely high in calories.

13. White bread

Most commercial loaves of bread are unhealthy if eaten in large amounts, as they’re made from refined wheat, which is low in fiber and essential nutrients and may lead to rapid spikes in blood sugar.

The highly processed flour and additives in white, packaged bread can make it unhealthful.

Consuming too much white bread can contribute to obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. However, buying bread with the word “whole” as the first ingredient still does not guarantee a healthful product.

14. Most fruit juices

Fruit juice is often assumed to be healthy. While juice contains some antioxidants and vitamin C, it also packs high amounts of liquid sugar.

In fact, fruit juice harbors just as much sugar as sugary drinks like Coke or Pepsi — and sometimes even more.

The more concentrated sugar and calories in fruit juice can lead to obesity and inappropriate weight gain.

Excessive weight gain is associated with high blood pressure, hypertension, stroke, diabetes and other negative health issues later in life.

15. Pastries, cookies, and cakes

Most pastries, cookies, and cakes are unhealthy if eaten in excess.

Packaged versions are generally made with refined sugar, refined wheat flour, and added fats. Shortening, which may be high in unhealthy trans fats, is sometimes added.

These treats might be tasty, but they have almost no essential nutrients, copious calories, and many preservatives.

16. French fries and potato chips

Whole, white potatoes are very healthy.

However, the same cannot be said of French fries and potato chips.

These foods are very high in calories, and it’s easy to eat excessive amounts. Several studies link French fries and potato chips to weight gain.

These foods may also contain large amounts of acrylamides, which are carcinogenic substances that form when potatoes are fried, baked, or roasted.

Let see which of them is better on the glycemic index. Fried potatoes or french fries are at 75 on the glycemic index. Potato chips are at 54 on the glycemic index. Potato chips are better than french fries when you look at the glycemic index.

17.Low-carb junk foods

Low-carb diets are very popular.

While you can eat plenty of whole foods on such a diet, you should watch out for processed low-carb replacement products. These include low-carb candy bars and meal replacements.

These foods are often highly processed and packed with additives.

18. Candy bars

Candy bars are incredibly unhealthy.

They’re high in sugar, refined wheat flour, and processed fats while also very low in essential nutrients.

What’s more, these treats will leave you hungry because of the way that your body metabolizes these sugar bombs.

19. Most fast food meals

Generally speaking, fast-food chains serve junk food.

Most of their offerings are mass-produced and low in nutrients.

Despite their low prices, fast foods may contribute to disease risk and harm your general wellness. You should especially watch out for fried items.

20.Anything with added sugar or refined grains

It’s important to avoid — or at least limit — foods that contain added sugar, refined grains, and artificial trans fats.

These are some of the unhealthiest but most common ingredients in the modern diet. Thus, the importance of reading labels cannot be overstated.

This even applies to so-called healthy foods.

Article Original Source: https://www.nutritionexp.com/ and www.healthline.com