What is for lunch today? Chances are that you are eating things you would never imagine are edible. Everything from scary chemicals to bugs could be hiding in your meal. Yes we are talking about terms such as “natural ingredients” and “flavourings” that are the real sources of everything gross and creepy. If you are reading this while eating your meal, make sure that you finish your meal before you roll your eyes down on the list.

1. Paint Chemicals in Salad Dressings

Sure you love your salads with those savoury dressings but more often the dressings you pick from the supermarket contain titanium oxide that is sometimes contaminated with toxic lead. Manufacturers add it to overly processed items to make them appear whiter. While white has been symbolic to clean, it really does not assure quality food. Apart from the salad dressings, manufacturers also add the compound to coffee creamers and icing.

2. Flame Retardant Laced Soda in Juices and Drinks

Heard of flame retardant laced soda? For years, manufacturers have been adding it to sodas juices and drinks to keep the artificial flavouring agents from separating from the drink. Excessive use of this compound has been linked to bromide poisoning which can potentially leads to skin lesions, nerve damage and memory loss. Is this not a good enough reason to stick to homemade juices? Calcium Carbide in Mangoes: Your Favourite Summer Fruit May Be Loaded With Cancer-Causing Chemicals; Easy Ways to Detect Artificial Ripening Agents (Watch Video). 

3. Cloned Cow's Stomach in Cheese

Anything topped with cheese can make for a hearty meal. But did you know that cheese makers traditionally use rennet, an enzyme derived from the mucosa of the calf's fourth stomach to create cheese? But the struggle with the calf's high cost and limited availability of the calf stomachs, forced the manufacturers to start using alternatives such as the microbial stomach which is a genetically modified version derived from a cloned calf gene. Consuming genetically modified foods can have long term effects. Rennet varieties is listed as enzymes on the label, so it can be very difficult to understand which variety you should pick. How to Check Purity of Milk, Honey, Food Grains & Other Household Products: Common Tests Guidelines from FSSAI for Adulteration. 

4. Crushed Abdomen of Bugs in Yoghurt and Candies

You will probably not pick the red-coloured items in the supermarket after reading this: The red-tinted youghurt, juices, and candies contain the food colouring carmine which is basically the crushed abdomen of female Dactylopius coccus, an African beetle-like insect. Grossed out? While no side effects have yet been listed by researchers, the compound can pose ethical issues for vegetarians and vegans. It is often listed in the food label as crimson lake, carmine or natural red #4. Are Maggi Noodles Safe? How Lead and MSG in Food Affect Your Health. 

5. Cleaning Chemicals in Shrimps

Love shrimps? Beware as it can be coated with chemicals used to clean dirty farm shrimps which are often coated with antibiotics, rat hair and pieces of insects. You surely do not want the nasty stuff to make way to your plate and cause diaorrhea and food poisoning, do you? To ensure that you are not consuming contaminated shrimps, ditch farm shrimps for domestic varieties.

So the next time you are at the supermarket, make sure that you glance through the label first to keep out the creeps from your plate.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 09, 2019 04:40 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).