People Share The Grossest Food Facts They Know

Processed foods get a bad rep. They have been blamed for causing obesity and high blood pressure. Some foods like frozen pizzas and microwavable entrees are more processed than others.

Still they're very difficult to avoid – like the following:

Gross, To Be Frank

"There are an allowable amount of rat hairs allowed in hot dogs!"

– jenyj89

"And bug parts. Probably sh*t too. I think it's just general foreign biological material, not anything in particular."

– Sloppy1sts

Cured Delights

"Salami and many other Italian deli meats are not cooked, they are cured."

"Raw meat is ground up and blended with spices and binders, then it's loaded into a casing and hung to dry in a curing chamber. Curing chambers are very precise pieces of equipment that keeps the humidity and temperature in the perfect range to encourage mold growth on the outside of the casings."

"So ya, salami is moldy uncooked meat...."

– purple-paper-punch

We Love It Anyway

"cheese is essentially a rotten milk roll waiting to be eaten for years and somehow I still eat it."

– ThatonegirlnamedNani

Bet you didn't know these not-so-appetizing facts about the following treats.

Jiggly Desserts

"That gelatin is actually made out of skin, tissues and bones of cows and pigs."

– AvacadoGrapefruit

It Comes With A Side Dish

"If you've eaten wild caught fish you've almost certainly also eaten dead parasites."

– sedition-

Taste Like Vomit

"American milk chocolate often contains small but measurable amounts butyric acid, either as a byproduct of how the chocolate is made or added to it on purpose as a preservative."

"Butyric acid is also produced by human gut bacteria, and is one of the noxious/smelly/foul-tasting components in vomit."

"The amount of butyric acid in American chocolate is small enough and Americans are usually so accustomed to it that we don't really notice, but, to non-Americans - especially Europeans, apparently - American chocolate literally tastes like puke."

– PaniqueAttaque

​Artificial Goodness

"Artificial vanilla and strawberry flavouring used to be derived a chemical extracted out of a beaver's musk glands (near it's anus)."

– devilkazama

Unwelcome Patrons

"As someone who did pest control for years, the vast majority of restaurants that you eat at have a rodent problem, a roach problem, or both. And quite a few of them are severe."

– 4GotMyFathersFace

Whether you like it or not, you can't interfere with the laws of nature.

They Gotta Start Somewhere

"Mushroom are fungus that thrive in really sh*tty dirt."

– AF*ckinAtodasso

The Thing About Figs

"Wasps go into figs to lay their larvae. They also have an enzyme called ficin that breaks down the deceased wasps into protein, which become part of the ripened fruit."

– pokegirl395

Nature's Candy

"Honey is basically bee vomit."

– c*ckity-p*en

Cheese is made through the process of curdling milk – on purpose.

While that doesn't sound appetizing, the popular dairy product has always been a guilty pleasure for many people.

Just keep in mind that – unless it's blue cheese – the mold growing on any other cheese that's been sitting in your fridge should be tossed.

You wouldn't want to make the same mistake my roommate once made after eating rotten brie.

Long story short, I had to clean up after him.