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Just because the food you eat smells like a strawberry or tastes like a strawberry does not mean it actually contains strawberries. Sometimes it’s good to check whether what we eat is really a true food or just a mixture of chemicals and artificial additives.
Here are the 4 biggest food frauds that you would rather never put into your mouth again.
1. Crab sticks
You probably think that crab sticks are made from crab. The truth, however, is that the name of this food is more than misleading.
Crab sticks are made from processed seafood. More precisely, from relatively cheap delicate white fish meat (called surimi), which is supplemented with various additives (crab extract, flavoring, spices, etc.).
Surimi is commonly available in various shapes, forms and textures. It is often used to mimic the consistency and color of lobster, crab and other crustacean meat.
In crab sticks, this mixture takes a shape intended to resemble crab legs.
This gives large manufacturers the opportunity to use cheap fish meat and elevate it to the taste of the most expensive pieces, such as crab or lobster.
Fish are considered foods that are actually good for our bodies, so in this case it could have been even worse. However, it’s still worth keeping in mind that these sticks are not made from crab meat, but are a highly processed product containing a number of artificial additives.
The range of ingredients may also include other fish products. Usually it’s egg whites, oils, salt, monosodium glutamate.
There may also be various starches and additives used to give the food the desired texture.
Even if you found real crab sticks somewhere, it wouldn’t be better. Many tests of crab meat show high levels of heavy metals. It would be like “out of the frying pan into the fire”.
2. Chicken nuggets
Chicken nuggets usually contain only 40% – 50% meat, which is typically ground and then fried.
The rest tends to come from factories, from food suppliers.
We all know that white chicken meat is one of the best sources of animal protein. But some companies have decided to use artificial blends of various chicken parts instead of lean white chicken meat.
They then grind it, fry it, and the resulting mass presents itself as meat.
Such chicken nuggets, however, have a high fat content because they are coated in breadcrumbs and subsequently fried.
They also contain a lot of salt and sugar, so they are quite caloric. If you eat them from time to time it won’t kill you. However, because they are tasty, cheap and convenient to eat, it’s easy to buy them more often.
Moreover, kids love them. There’s hardly any worse food for them. Well, actually there is — McDonald’s chicken nuggets.
3. Instant fruit drink Tang
It is a fruit drink that, since the late 1960s when it was introduced to the market, became part of the breakfast of many Americans and now also Europeans.
Initially this drink was used by NASA astronauts, which is why it was also known as the “astronaut drink”.
You would certainly be mistaken if you thought Tang was anything like fruit juice.
For example, citrus drinks generally always contain very little real orange juice. According to the label, Tang contains sugar, less than 2% orange juice, artificial colorings and many other additives.
Essentially, most of the flavors in this drink do not come from orange juice, but only from artificial and natural substitutes.
To be fair, it’s worth adding that a whole range of other fruit drinks produced today have a similar composition. They are actually made only to taste like fruit, but they often haven’t even seen real fruit.
You’ll do your body a much better service if you have a real orange or other fruit for breakfast.
4. White bread
It has been known for quite some time that white bread and refined grains are not among foods with high nutritional value.
As you surely know, whole grain foods are an excellent source of fiber and complex carbohydrates and have a positive effect on the condition of the digestive system.
However, if the flour is highly processed, it loses most of its nutrients.
Refined grains then no longer contain complex carbohydrates considered a slow-releasing source of energy. The body absorbs them quickly and does not need much time to digest them, which raises blood glucose levels.
During processing of wheat its germ and bran are removed. This simultaneously causes the loss of a significant portion of its nutrients such as fiber, vitamins and minerals.
They can be added back to the flour, but most often these are the cheapest minerals and vitamins, which are absorbed by the body only very poorly.
Conclusion
On your next trip to the grocery store choose “real” foods whenever possible. Definitely read product ingredients and watch what you give your body.
“Everything in moderation” sounds like pretty good advice, but let’s take a closer look …
Some things, quite simply, you should not put into your mouth. This applies especially to artificial flavors, colorings and preservatives.
Foods that contain them in large amounts should be left on the store shelves. Because if a sufficient number of people start to do that, perhaps food manufacturers will realize that this is not the way to go.
