In the world of food, appearances can be deceiving.
While many popular dishes and culinary delights tantalize our taste buds and please our palates, it may come as a shock to some that the methods and ingredients used in their preparation can be far from appetizing.
Bored Pandadelves into the less savory side of gastronomy, shedding light on some of the unsettling processes and ingredients that are hidden behind some of the most popular food.
1. Doner kebab
Image credits:Meruyert Gonullu
People have been left astounded upon uncovering the contents concealed within a doner kebab.
A doner kebab, which typically consists of bread stuffed with meat shavings, lettuce, tomatoes and onions, has become a quintessential British choice after a night of revelry.
Image credits:Food Unwrapped
But Jimmy Doherty fromChannel 4’s Food Unwrappedmade the daring decision to procure nine doner kebabs from nine distinct establishments, dispatching them to a forensic scientist for a comprehensive examination.
The beloved takeaway item is most known to be crafted exclusively from lamb, however, the scientist investigated the presence of alternative meats, such as beef, chicken, and pork, along with the less commonly consumed horse, donkey, and goat.
Out of the nine samples tested, only one managed to maintain its integrity with 100 percent lamb DNA, while the others displayed traces of DNA from various other animals.
“Fortunately, we found no goat, no donkey, and no horse in any of the products,” the scientist revealed.
Jimmy went on to inquire about the scientist’s expectations if a larger sample of 900 kebabs were employed, to which the researcher responded he would’ve anticipated approximately 60% non-compliance rate, which might be considered quite typical.
“This is important to know that often these kebab shops tell people it’s lamb but in reality it contains beef and pork too,” another person wrote.
2. Crab stick
Image credits:Food Kingdom
Earlier this year, a video from the Food Kingdom YouTube Channel gained widespread attention as it purportedly showcased the world’slargest crab stick manufacturing facility.
The vast majority of crab sticks are, in fact, not made from genuine crab meat, but are instead made of starch and ground-up remnants of white fish.
Subsequently, a mixture of various other ingredients is blended in, and the “crab sticks” are shaped into the familiar items used in sushi rolls or salads.
According to data from the United States Department of Agriculture National Nutrient Database, crab sticks typically consist of approximately 76% water, 15% protein, 6.85% carbohydrates, and a meager 0.9% fat content.
From a nutritional standpoint, they lag significantly behind genuine fish products available in the market.
3. Hot dog
Image credits:How It’s Made
A comprehensive videohas provided a detailed breakdown of the hot dog manufacturing process, featuring a voiceover guiding us through the steps.
The narrator explains that traditional hot dogs are crafted from a blend of beef, chicken, and pork.The meat undergoes a thorough mixing process until it transforms into a rather unappealing paste.
The video shows corn syrup gently poured onto the mixture, intended to impart a hint of sweetness.
Additional water is also incorporated until, ultimately, they are piped into casings and traverse a series of racks.
It then takes just 35 seconds to produce a chain of hot dogs long enough to stretch across a football field twice.
4. Gelatin
Image credits:Did You Know?
A videohas unveiled the intricate process of producing gelatin, a substance that finds its way into numerous confections, as well as puddings, select cosmetics, cheeses, yogurts, soups, and even the coating of vitamin tablets.
Candy fans might be surprised to know that the substance is derived from the extensive simmering of skin, tendons, ligaments, and bones, typically sourced from cows or pigs, in water.
Gelatin, a protein originating from collagen, serves the purpose of stabilizing and thickening various ingredients.
5. Food coloring
Image credits:Stephhzz
It might be wise to read the ingredients labels before buying the perfect food coloring to bake a red velvet cake.
According toSnopes, you might stumble upon a reference to cochineal, carmine, or carminic acid.
Cochineal and its near relative, carmine (also referred to as carminic acid), are extracted from the crushed bodies of a specific South and Central American insect.
These widely used colorants, currently employed to achieve a rich red hue in fruit juices, gelatins, candies, shampoos, and various other products, are obtained from the female Dactylopius coccus insect.
Image credits:Vahe Martirosyan
It’s worth noting that producing one pound of cochineal requires approximately 70,000 insects.
6. Chicken nuggets
Image credits:We Animals Media
The Humane Leagueshed light on how the popular junk food is made.
According to animal advocates, chicken nuggets are crafted using white meat obtained from the breast or pectoral muscles of chickens, often combined with various other chicken components.
Image credits:McDonald’s Canada
This process may include tendons, bones, nervous and connective tissues, as well as fat, all of which can be ground together before being molded into familiar bite-sized pieces.
Manufacturers and brands each possess their own distinct recipes, often shrouded in secrecy.
For example,McDonald’s launched a virtual tourof a meatpacking facility where a portion of its nuggets are manufactured.
The video illustrates the process of removing bones from deceased chickens, extracting the breast meat from their bodies.
These breast portions are subsequently deposited into large containers, which are then transported to an immense grinder.
The meat is thoroughly shredded and mixed with chicken skin, serving as a binding agent and eventually forming an unattractive beige paste.
The ultimate step in the production of chicken nuggets involves molding the meat paste, coating it with a tempura batter, and subjecting it to frying, all through a highly automated process.
7. Vanilla flavor
Image credits:Minette Layne
The vanilla flavoring present in your baked goods and candy might originate from the anal secretions of beavers.
Beavers produce a substance called castoreum from their anal glands, which they use for territorial marking.
Manufacturers have been incorporating it into perfumes and food products for a minimum of 80 years, as indicated in a 2007 study published in theInternational Journal of Toxicology.
Image credits:H. Zell
“I lift up the animal’s tail,” Joanne Crawford, a wildlife ecologist at Southern Illinois University, toldNational Geographic, “and I’m like, ‘Get down there, and stick your nose near its bum.’”
“People think I’m nuts,” she added. “I tell them, ‘Oh, but it’s beavers; it smells really good.’”
The fragrant, brown slime is about the consistency of molasses, though not quite as thick, Joanne said.
Unlike the unpleasant odor associated with many anal secretions, castoreum is a result of the beaver’s distinctive diet, primarily consisting of leaves and bark.
Rather than possessing an unpleasant scent, castoreum emits a musky, vanilla fragrance, which is why food scientists often choose to include it in various recipes.
8. Foie gras
Image credits:Official PETA
Animal rights organization Peta has been warning people off buying and consuming the French delicacy due to its brutal production process.
According to the NGO, in order to produce “foie gras” (the French term means “fatty liver”), workers ram pipes down the throats of male ducks twice each day, pumping up to 2.2 pounds of grain and fat into their stomachs, or geese three times a day, up to 4 pounds daily, in a process known as “gavage.”
The force-feeding causes the birds’ livers to swell to up to 10 times its normal size, which is then extracted for consumption.
Image credits:L214
On a weekly basis, a specific company markets foie gras reportedly produced from 5,000 ducks afflicted with diseases.
9. Ice cream
Image credits:Inside Edition
Afood blogrevealed that ice cream from places like Wendy’s, Burger King, and Baskin-Robbins contained ingredients like potassium sorbate, guar gum, and sodium phosphate.
Soft-serve machines can reportedly also serve as breeding grounds for staphylococcus, as exemplified in 2005, when anunclean McDonald’s machineresulted in sickness among over 120 individuals.
But upon concluding their investigation, Inside Edition determined that the ice cream served in 31 out of the 40 inspected locations was devoid of harmful contaminants.
This suggests the establishments maintained proper cleanliness standards for their machinery.You May Like“Call Me Lazy”: Mother, 34, Stuns With Ozempic Transformation And Side EffectKarina Babenok“Wish There Were More Like Him”: People’s Support For Luigi Grows After His First Public StatementRenan DuartePassengers Upset After Plane Makes Emergency Landing Due To “Serious Medical” Crisis On BoardKarina Babenok
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