Random Funky Food Facts We Never Needed To Know (12 items)

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  (#1) Oysters

  • Food

  It's possible that when you eat a raw oyster, it's recently deceased, but it's more likely still alive. Eating a living oyster optimizes the freshness, flavor, and nutrient density of the meat and the juices contained within the oyster's shell. According to registered dietitian Alex Lewis: 

  Dead raw oysters run a greater risk of being infected with viruses and bacteria that can have a negative impact on your health - although the overall risk is relatively low.

  Whether oysters feel pain is still a subject of debate, but there are additional things to consider when slurping. If you come upon a milky oyster, you're about to consume one that's spawning. Eating a spawning oyster isn't dangerous, but many people find the appearance and texture to be unpleasant.
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  (#3) Bananas

  • Film (1971)

  Many foods are radioactive, but bananas are high on the list due to their abundance of potassium. Bananas contain the radioactive isotope potassium-40, but according to the Environmental Protection Agency, the radiation level is minimal, and it would take an exorbitant number of bananas to cause any harm. 

  Exposure to radiation is measured in sieverts (Sv), but the presence of radioactive isotopes in bananas has resulted in an informal way to note radiation exposure - the Banana Equivalent Dose. One BED is what you'd take in after eating one banana.

  Brazil nuts, butter beans, avocados, and potatoes all fall into the top 10 most naturally radioactive foods.
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  (#4) Confectioner's Glaze Is Made Of Bug Secretions

  Confectioner's glaze, also known as shellac, is what keeps candy and other sweets shiny, essentially serving as a varnish to the goodie. You may not give shellac much thought, but it's actually derived from the secretions of the lac bug (Kerria lacca) - hence the name.

  Female lac insects take in sap from specific types of trees - often in either the Fabaceae (legume) family or the Rosales (rose) order. They absorb it as food, lay eggs, and then excrete the sap. When air combines with the excretions, it becomes hard, and in theory, protects the eggs. It's at that point workers scrape the coating off the trees, refine it, and process it for a variety of products. 

  Candy corn, for example, is covered in shellac (adding to its vilification each October), as are jelly beans, and chocolates like Milk Duds and Raisinets. Skittles removed shellac from its product in 2009, but some Skittles still contain Red 40 - a dye derived from carmine, which comes from cochineal insects, also called scale insects.

  Sometimes called "beetle juice," carmine doesn't contain any actual bugs, but rather is extracted from female cochineal insects when they're crushed.
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  (#9) Gummy bear

  • Dish

  The gelatin used in Jell-O, gummy candies, marshmallows, and any other comparable food usually derives from animal products - specifically the collagen found in the flesh and bones of pigs. 

  When pigs and the like are slaughtered for meat, the remnants of their bodies are boiled and broken down into a gelatinous substance. This is then flavored, colored, and mixed with sugar, corn starch, and other ingredients to make sweets in various shapes, sizes, and forms.

  Non-animal gelatin does exist and derives from vegetable gums and seaweed extract.

  In another gummy bear-related revelation, fans of Haribo Goldbears learned that the green bears were strawberry flavored. Contrary to the (intuitive) belief that green would indicate apple, watermelon, or even lime, Haribo flavors the green gummy strawberry. The red ones, on the other hand, are raspberry flavored.

  It's unclear if this is only the case in the US but, in the words of one gummy bear eater, “Everything I know is a lie.” 
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  (#6) Tomato paste

  • Food

  The Food Defect Levels Handbook from the US Food & Drug Administration lays out guidelines for how much mold, how many maggots, the number of animal hairs, and what amount of insect damage is acceptable for consumer food products.

  When it comes to mold, the FDA employs the Howard mold count method, which uses a measuring cell to determine mold contamination on a microscopic level. According to the FDA, tomato paste, soup, and comparable products are considered satisfactory as long as mold counts sit below 40% to 45%. Tomato ketchup can possess up to 55% average mold counts, while tomato powder goes as high as 67%. 

  Some canned and frozen vegetables and fruits can contain certain percentages of rotten material - it ranges from 5% to 7% - while ground oregano can average up to 1,250 insect fragments per 10 grams before being deemed defective. 
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  (#7) Peanut butter

  • Food

  In its guidelines about food defects, the US Food & Drug Administration states that peanut butter can have 30 or more insect fragments per 100 grams. Additionally, one rodent hair is acceptable per 100 grams of peanut butter. 

  A 12-ounce jar is about 340 grams, meaning it can contain as many as three rodent hairs. Purchasing a 40-ounce jar would get you more than 1,100 grams of peanut butter, enough to mix in 11 acceptable rodent hairs.

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