Diet

8 Unsettling Facts Food Companies Don't Want You to Know

Find out where wood fibers, bugs and other strange ingredients are lurking in commonly consumed foods.

by Diana Kelly | COMMENT

PHOTO 4/10

Your Turkey Burger Is Essentially Ground-up Food Scraps Anything that's ground up or made into a paste -- like hotdogs, sausage, chicken nuggets, ground beef or ground turkey -- is usually made from dozens of different animals, says Lovera. If you're eating a chicken nugget, for instance, that patty is often made up of ground-up chicken parts that the manufacturer couldn't use for any other purpose. On the plus side, "you could look at it as addressing a food waste issue -- you're using up the leftover pieces," says Lovera. However, if there's a food poisoning outbreak, it's virtually impossible to trace back to the supplier, she explains.

Bottom line: No one's saying we thought chicken patties were healthy, but keep in mind most foods that comes in a casing (like hotdogs and sausages) are probably from a few different animals. You might be better off researching a local butcher and talking to them about the farms their product comes from. The more transparency you can get and informed you are about where your food is coming up, the more you'll know about what's likely to be in your food.

SEE NEXT PAGE: Your Burger Is More Likely Than Steak to Contain E. Coli

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