14 Nauseating Food Combinations You May Have Eaten Last Week

Forget the reality shows where a contestant tosses back a glass of bull urine. Most of us are living a real-life Ick Factor every time we indulge in some of our favorite foods. Check out these 14-nauseating food combination:

1. Beetle Shells

Starbucks recently took a PR hit after it was revealed the company was using crushed-up beetle shells to make the red dye used in some products. Although Starbucks dropped this bad food combination, it’s still found in red dyes used for cakes, cherries, jams, and tomato products.

2. Castoreum

This innocent-sounding word describes a mixture of beavers’ anal secretions and urine. Castoreum is found in fruit flavorings, like vanilla and raspberry. Usually, it's listed only as “natural flavoring.”

3. Collagen

That perennial dessert favorite called gelatin is made using the fibrous tissue (collagen) of animals. A common source of food collagen comes from the skin of pigs.

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4. Duck Feathers and Human Hair

L-cysteine is an amino acid frequently used to soften packaged slices of bread. Where does the yuck factor come in? Most l-cysteine is made from human hair—but at least one big-name fast-food brand is said to use a form made from duck feathers.

5. Maggots

Mmmm... maggots? According to FDA guidelines, manufacturers are permitted to up to 20 maggots in a small can of mushrooms.

6. Mold

Yes, that same stuff we scrub from our homes every year is allowed to be in some canned products. For instance, the FDA permits canned fruit and veggie juices to contain up to 15% mold.

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7. Pink "Slime"

This mix of fatty cow parts and waste meat is treated with ammonia gas before it’s added to ground beef as filler.

8. Pregnancy Hormones

BPA (bisphenol A), which is used as a lining for canned foods, acts like estrogen when it’s ingested. It can cause everything from behavioral problems in kids to metabolism changes in everyone.

9. Rat Hair

That rodent in Ratatouille is high on scruffy cuteness. But chances are good you wouldn’t want any of his hair in your chocolate. Yet, that’s exactly what you may be eating when you indulge in the treat. The FDA allows one rat hair per 100 grams of chocolate.

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10. Rocket Fuel

Rocket fuel is good for rockets. But for humans? Not so much. Leading lettuce-producing state California irrigates many farms with water potentially contaminated with low levels of the fuel component perchlorate. Studies suggest that perchlorate harms thyroid function.

11. Sawdust

You can thank cellulose, a.k.a. sawdust, for keeping shredded cheese from clumping. This disgusting food combination, which also extends a product’s shelf life, is found in processed foods for both humans and pets.

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12. Toilet Bowl Cleaner

Some potato chip manufacturers use sodium bisulfate, a common toilet bowl cleaner ingredient, to bleach discoloration out of potato chips.

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14. Vet Medications

Take a bite out of a burger and you may also be getting a mouthful of drugs used to treat the cattle: from antibiotics to animal de-wormer.