The food industry is a vast and complex system, and like any system, it has its dark side. While there are many reputable food companies and organizations, there are also some that engage in unethical and even dangerous practices.
A user asked the forum, What dark facts do you know about the food industry?
PAM AND SPRAY OIL IS PURE FAT
“PAM and spray oil are pure fat
They are allowed to say it is 0 fat or calories because the portion size is under the cut-off for what they have to report.”
SILVER SPRAY ON THE MEAT
“Worse, I participated as kitchen staff in a rather top-flight restaurant….. on a slow summer Sunday afternoon, the boss sent us down to the walk-in meat coolers to spray paint the rusted walls.
We were instructed not to remove the contents of the cooler first; rather just shifted the meat from one side of the cooler to the other. The coat of silver spray paint will come off during cooking.”
LEAVING MEAT ON THE COUNTERTOP FOR DAYS AND SELLING IT
“In my country, buffets often sell spoiled food; if the employees see mold on top of the sour cream, they just scrape it down and continue selling it.
Also, if they sell cooked meat, they often leave it on the counter for days and add some oil every morning to look fresh.”
SELLING ROTTEN FOOD TO POOR
“In the Philippines, there’s something called pagpag which is discarded rotten food from restaurants that are repackaged and sold to the poor.”
KILLING MERCILESSLY
“Chicken mills put male chickens on a conveyer belt that drops them into a grinder while alive. It’s gotta be a quick and painless death, but it’s so brutal it sticks with me.”
UNCLEANED GROCERY WAREHOUSES
“Grocery distribution warehouses are often extremely filthy and rarely cleaned. Wash anything canned, bottled, or jarred!!! They’re filthy, covered in microplastics, rotten food, mouse waste, bird waste etc.
I used to do maintenance on conveyor systems for a major US chain. I saw Bats, Birds, and Mice in that facility, but it was within the tolerance of their health policy. Also saw people that were sick, sneezing, and coughing on products.
Never saw a floor scrubber go through the warehouse the entire 3mo I worked there, and I was doing alternating double shifts! I only saw a broom if there was shattered glass.”
CHILD LABOUR
“Almost all the chocolate you buy from commercial sources comes from child labor and trafficking. People are kidnapped and taken to farms, where they are held at gunpoint. Children as young as 8 using machetes. No health care, no schools.
Companies like Nestlé and Mondalise (I don’t think that is spelled right) turn a blind eye and work from “plausible deniability.”
LOW-QUALITY FOOD
“Worked in a pepperoni factory 20+ years ago as an accountant. The more MSP in the bill of materials, the lower the product’s quality and cheaper. Looking at the stuff, it looked kind of like an old square crumbly eraser, if you remember those.
So I asked what MSP was. It’s “mechanically separated pork.” When I asked what that meant, they told me that after all the good meat is cut off of a pig, a power washer is used to blast the remaining flesh. That’s scooped up, dried out, and packaged as MSP.
Enjoy your next cheap pepperoni pizza.”
THE FISH INDUSTRY IS DESTROYING THE OCEANS
“that the fishing industry is destroying the oceans. It’s so horrible how much ‘by-catch’ is things like sharks, dolphins, etc., that die for no reason. Also, tuna is an endangered species of the fishing industry.”
FAKE BROWN RICE
“Used to work for a big American Chinese food chain. The brown rice is soy sauce mixed into white rice instead of brown rice.”
KFC SECRET
“Not much in the grand scheme, but the local KFC would spit in food or worse if they didn’t like you. Could be ordered, was too complicated, came around too much, or even just gave a slight attitude in their eyes.”
NOT WASHING DISHES WELL
“I spent a very brief time on dishwasher duty at a very popular seafood restaurant in our town. They served a lot of crabmeat au gratin in those small oval bowls.
couldn’t get that hard cheese ring off the inside of the bowl, so I asked the manager what the trick was. He said, “Just wash it. Those rings of hard cheese don’t come off and have been on there since we bought them.”
SHELLS ARE REUSED
“Escargot. Ugh. Be wary.
Those exotic-looking shells are reused many times. After being sent through the dishwasher, extra care is sometimes taken to ensure the soap hasn’t settled inside the shell.
The snail meat itself comes from a can and is stuffed into the shells.”
NOT CLEANING BEER TAPS
“Chef here. I’ve been at this 4-star resort for three years. I’ve never seen the beer tap lines cleaned.”
SELLING MOLDY CHEESE
“Worked in a food distribution warehouse. When the big blocks of cheese got moldy, they were frozen, and the mold scraped off. Then the cheese was sold to discount pizza places.”
USING CHEMICALS TO KEEP GREEN SALAD FRESH
“Your green salad lettuce has been floating in a trash-can-sized bucket containing a mixture of water and some chemical that keeps it crisp.”
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The article was originally published on Mrs Daaku Studio.