There is a lot of food there that people find disgusting or off-putting, especially if it is something foreign to the cuisine of your culture.
Haggis – Mouton parts stuffed in a sheep and porridge belly – for its ahemstomach. LUTEFISK – Nut and elderly fish are not in frost either – many converts outside the Scandinavian countries. And it also applies to something like the delicacy of Balust in Southeast Regional Asia, a fertilized duck egg that was incubated up to 21 days and then steamed.
All these foods are obviously questionable for beginners, with strange odors and alarming visuals for those who do not know the price. But more alarming, the hidden and disturbing origins, the potential dangers not made and the bizarre quantity of the food that we hold as acquired in our daily culinary reality.
So we have gathered a list of interesting (and disturbing) facts on the food you probably meet all the time to help you make yourself more aware of what you put in your mouth.
1. Lemon slices can be covered with poop particles
The cut lemons are a must of almost all restaurants. Bols of them are often dispersed around, seated and waiting to be soaked in a glass of diet coke, or squirt in a cup of hot tea. No big deal, right? Is it just a lemon slice, not a raw chicken plate or something?
GOOD, A study published in the Journal of Environmental Health found that out of 76 lemons sampled in 21 restaurants, almost 70% of them were covered in 25 types of bacteria and yeasts – including fecal and E. coli. – noting that: “The microbes found on lemon samples in our survey all have the potential to cause infectious diseases on various bodily sites.”
Although alarming, and enough to give you a second reflection on the pressing of a lemon corner provided in the restaurant in your next frozen tea, the study also noted that there was no epidemic of disease linked to the use of lemons in drinks in a restaurant. They allocated the high number of microbes in part to the kitchen workers do not following appropriate health measures – although lemons could have been contaminated by anyone who manipulated them before they even reach restaurants.
This does not help that citrus fruits have many pores, which give bacteria and other insects many places to find the wearing of Safe.
2. The raw oysters are alive
For crustaceans lovers, there is a little better than settling in a refrigerated plate of raw oysters with a bottle of cold beer. Baundish treats slide into your throat with a satisfactory slurp, which you omit them with lemon (see n ° 1), then have them with cocktail sauce or go At natural.
But many people may not realize that eating “raw” oysters does not only mean that they are not cooked. It also indicates that small sticky suction cups are also Always alive. And although this can transform the stomachs of some people to think that they are decreasing a living being while gorging in their local oyster cabin, the only type of oyster you should eat is the one that is alive.
Dead oysters can quickly become infested with bad bacteria, which is why stores sell and serve them as fresh as possible, shipping them in a cold and humid environment that can keep them alive and viable for a week or two.
So, if you want to make sure your oysters are always good when you buy them on your market, follow these steps:
- If you see one that is a slightly open shell, press it. If he closes, he is still alive in his pearly prison.
- If you spy on some that are open and do not react to your tap, rejected it as it probably perished.
3. Most gummies are made from pork skin
Many guilty pleasures of people understand from time to time a few pieces of candy, with soft, soft and Squishy sotters (and sometimes tart!) A popular choice. And although you can think that things like candies are free from animal products, the disturbing truth is that gammies (and jell-o) are mainly made from gelatinThis is what gives it this soft feeling and a soft texture. Gelatin comes from parts of animals thrown like boiled skin, bones, ligaments and cow and pig tendons.
If this fact is sure to divert you from the handles of Swedish fish or to chew lots of gummates, look for products made from agar agar, which is a gelatin -type source of substance from algae. Bissinger And Germs There are among the many places that now offer vegan gammies that will not give you back every time you dig in a cinema bag.
4. You can buy coffee from Civet Poop
Preparing a new pan of coffee in the morning and sipping a cup of hot Joe is a daily ritual for people in a large part of the world. And among coffee drinkers, there is often fierce loyalty to their choice of choice, whether from Dunkin ‘or unique origin from Ethiopia.
But for those who like to experiment with their type of drink, they can buy coffee beans that have crossed the digestive tract of an Asian civet palm and gathered from its poop. Called Kopi LuwakIt is a form of coffee grains treatment that would produce an exemplary drink.
The journey of beans through the intestines of the civet begins a fermentation process that reduces bitterness and contributes to the unique aroma and taste of Kopi Luwak. And, according to local legend, the civets only eat the most choice of coffee cherries.
Note however, since coffee can order up to $ 100 per kilogram, many ceremonies are kept in cages and reinforcement coffee cherries to speed up production.
5. Your favorite candy is covered with insect juice
The satisfactory crack and crunch to bite into a hard candy, as well as the sugar radiance, is what makes people come back for more from their favorite treats, but they should know that the brilliant shell encompassing the candy is most likely made from insect secretions. Called ConfectionerIt is made from white gum, which itself comes from insect secretions.
The insect in particular is called the lake insect, and it secretes a waxy resin (which is considered a natural polymer) to protect its eggs after setting on plant tissues. Resin is also used on a variety of products, coating potatoes and beans with varnishing wood and coating. THE Food and Drug Administration (FDA) considers the frosting as a “non -nutritious” supplement and is “generally recognized as safe”.
6. Vanilla aromas can come from beaver butts
Putting a few drops of pure vanilla extract in confectionery or pastries is a great way to add a little floral and woody flavor. But the real vanilla – extracted from vanilla pods – is expensive, just behind the saffron in price, so food companies like to use a source of similar tasting derived from a Castor secretion.
Called “Castoreum”, it is made from mixed beaver rigorous glands, which are located near their anus at the base of their tail and are used in the marking territory. After being transformed, the macerated gland gives off a pleasant smell of vanilla, which makes it useful to flavor ice, pudding, candy and pastries, while being historically used in perfumery. A 2007 study in the International toxicology newspaper have found that it “does not present health risk”.
7. SALAMI is unclear meat
Most of us would not want to eat a piece of raw pork or bite not cooked chicken, but we want to cut salami and serve it to friends on a cleverly fittedly fitted charcuter. However, these long transformed pork balls could be considered raw meat because certain types are not cooked, but rather simply dry by suspending in the air.
This dry aging, however, makes the growth of harmful bacteria inhibit: sausage meat is mixed with salt and treated with lactic bacteria (which in fact in fact Inhibit pathogenic bacterial growth) and encouraged to ferment in a hot and humid room for a few days. Then it is dried and stored in a cooler area with low enough temperatures to Prevent more growth.
8. Ice machines can house more bacteria than toilet
Americans like to add ice to their drinks, but most are not aware of the hidden dangers that can hide in restaurant ice trash cans. You would not think a cold and closed environment designed to store ice would contain any type of bacteria, but the water used to make ice cream can be filled with harmful microorganisms. And workers plunging into the manufacturer of naked hands ice may not practice appropriate health procedures.
According to A 2017 studyOver the past three decades, gastroenteritis epidemics pinned to the consumption of contaminated ice has been reported around the world by a number of researchers and centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study revealed that of the 105 ICE machines that were sampled, around 22% of them contained traces of E. Coli – and contained even more other harmful bacteria.
9. Fig bars contain dead wasps (in a way)
It is not well known, but some immature figs must be pollinated by small female wasps called figurine wasps. And in this process, they crawl the flowers inside the pollinating fruit until their death. However, figs also produce ficinA chemical that is really good for breaking animal proteins (for example, wasp bodies).
But if the Ficin does not give you enough peace of mind, most of the figs you buy at the store do not require wasps for pollination: some of them can mature without pollination, and others are “deceived” by ripening by being sprayed with plant hormones.
10. Canned mushrooms are allowed to contain maggots
No one wants to find any amount of maggots near their food. Small white tests bring most people backing up with disgust when they spot them, but if you are a hand of canned mushrooms, you should know that the The FDA allows them to contain “More than 20 maggots or more than all -sized For 100 grams ”- emphasizing mine. And it’s just before they consider them defective and are not suitable for consumption.