Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Secrets About The Food Industry They Don't Want You To Know

Assortment of various food
assorted fruits on brown wooden bowls
Photo by Jimmy Dean on Unsplash

Reddit user Lilyxrx asked: 'What’s a secret the food industry don’t want you to know?'

Make us preferred on Google

Whenever we go out to eat, be it at a fine dining establishment or a quick service window, some of us tend to wonder what the journey was for the food that we are looking at on our plates or in our take-out bags.

Many have similar thoughts when buying frozen or pre-packaged dinners at supermarkets.


The answers aren't always readily available, often because the food service industry will go to great lengths to keep them under lock and key. Well aware, most of the time, that current or former employees will spill the beans at one point or another.

Redditor Lilyxrx was curious to hear some of the most well guarded secrets of the food industry, leading them to ask:

"What’s a secret the food industry don’t want you to know?"

Next Time Your Craving Bananas Foster...

"The 'natural flavors' are just big jugs of glycerin with hyper concentrated flavoring in it."

"Banana flavoring is fairly flammable."

"Source: Worked in food manufacturing."- irony_in_the_UK·

Cholesterol Be Darned!

"Chef here."

"It’s salt and fat."

"If you have a question about anything it’s salt and fat."- LongRest

For Efficiency's Sake...

"Olive Garden makes all their necessary pastas for the whole day from 8-10am every morning."

"Partially cooked."

"So when an order comes through, they grab a serving of the needed pasta style and flash cook them in hot water."

"Also, it’s just the brand, Barilla."- Deerhunter86

Justin Bieber Food GIFGiphy

Before You Pay The Extra Money...

"Beekeeper checking in."

"There is no such thing as organic honey."

"I do not treat my bees with chemicals, but I have no idea where they get their nectar."

"A bee can fly up to three miles from a hive to get nectar."

"It is virtually impossible to guarantee they have not gotten nectar from a chemically treated source."- toad__warrior·

If You Ever Wonder What Makes It Taste So Good...

"Unless it’s a health conscious food joint you’re eating at, the food we serve is designed for maximum taste."

"It’s either dense with fat and sugar, or fat and salt "

"E.G. Those mashed potatoes you like?"

"Made with cream, butter, and salt."

"The quiche?"

"Made on cream, not milk."

"Etc, etc."- petuniasweetpea

Before You Start Bragging...

"Dragon fruit isn’t an exotic Asian fruit."

"It’s a cactus fruit, and as such are native to the Americas and can even be grown in the US."- ferretmonkey

dragon fruit GIF by Feliks Tomasz KonczakowskiGiphy

In Case You're Wondering why That Taste Is So Familiar...

"A lot of the processed cheese and cream cheese is all the same recipe we just switch the labels and packaging for the different brands we run."

"Source: I work in a cheese factory in a company that services 75% of America's domestic market."- anon5678903276

Another Reason To Have No Guilt Over Take Out...

"Well."

"I work at Dominos, and we are kept afloat by the people who don't coupon and pay full menu price."

"You people are the unsung heroes of labor."- LoweeLL

Unlike Any Chocolate...

"When I worked at a mass production bakery the chocolate for the chocolate covered doughnuts came in giant frozen blocks of 4x4 pieces and contained no actual chocolate what so over."

"When unfrozen it was like some sort of nasty smelling paraffin wax that I would break up with a hammer and place into a melter that would then pour over the doughnuts."- gil_beard

Chocolate Dessert GIF by HuffPostGiphy

What Do Orange Juice And Whiskey Have In Common?

"The reason orange juice tastes consistently the same year round, even though it's a crop harvested once a year, is because citrus oils and citrus flavor are added back to different batches and blended all together."

"Similar to how whiskey is blended from multiple barrels to make it consistent."

"The difference is that even though extra stuff is added back into the OJ, it doesn't need to be labeled because the flavors contain all ingredients from oranges (FTNF-from the named fruit) so the FDA doesn't mandate labeling additional ingredients."- PensiveDoughnut

Does That Explain Their Shape?

"Pringles (and baked Lays/similar) are made of rehydrated and compressed rejected/excess parts of potatoes that go into regular chips."

"I learned that from my dietician at work and thought that was odd."

"I still like them over regular chips."- bluesasaurusrex

A Secret Better Not Known...

"The 11 herbs and spices secret recipe."- NemoTheOneTrueGod

Food Pouring GIF by Great Big StoryGiphy

Just Pop It In The Fryer...

"I was a young lad working at Church's Fried Chicken during the summer, many years ago."

"The owner refused to throw out chicken that had already gone bad; to the point where you'd gag if you smell them."

"Apparently if you batter them bad boys up and deep fry them, the rancid smell goes away."

"His customers never knew they were eating spoiled chicken."- Dirt_E_Harry·

Sweet... But Safe!

"The amount of sugar that goes into Costco bakery products is absurd, especially the apple pie."

"That being said; Costco does not f*ck around when it comes to food safety."

"Every area that is responsible for producing food is most likely cleaner than a white room for producing computer parts."

"There are virtually zero roaches, we found one in the bakery once and shut it down until the exterminator did his thing that very night."

"Someone returned a package of dinner rolls because their child had bit into one and a sharp piece of metal was in it, within less than 2 minutes every manager in the building was doing an investigation that led all the way up to the regional manager and his boss for several hours and determined that it had come off of a piece of machinery before it reached our location."

"We throw away rotisserie chickens if they have left (even for a few minutes) the shelf and someone tries to put it back."- Deathnachos

Costco GIF by hero0fwarGiphy

We'd like to think that everyone who works in the food industry shares the same high standards.

But, as in any industry, there are those out there who will cut corners for speedier results.

On the bright side, it does save you the trouble when deciding what cream cheese to buy...


More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Josh Hutcherson (left) and AnnaSophia Robb (right) starred in Bridge to Terabithia.
Leon Bennett/Getty Images for HBO; Courtesy of Buena Vista Pictures

Josh Hutcherson Jokingly Apologizes For 'Traumatizing' Entire Generation Of Kids With 'Bridge To Terabithia'

Nineteen years, several Hunger Games and countless therapy sessions later, millennials are apparently still seeking justice for what Bridge to Terabithia did to us.

For anyone fortunate enough to have escaped this childhood trauma, Josh Hutcherson played Jess Aarons in the 2007 fantasy drama alongside AnnaSophia Robb as Leslie Burke. The unlikely best friends create the magical world of Terabithia to escape everyday life.

Keep ReadingShow less
screenshots of Vivek Ramaswamy campaign ad
@vivekgramaswamy/Instagram

Vivek Ramaswamy Dragged After Showing Off His Awkward Baseball Swing In Cringey Batting Cage Campaign Video

Billionaire former Republican presidential and current Ohio GOP gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy's athletic prowess is being derided online after his campaign posted a video of him hitting baseballs in a batting cage on Instagram and TikTok on Tuesday.

The ribbing got so bad that the Ramaswamy campaign pulled the video off Instagram, leaving up only a similar one from June in which he wields a tennis racket. Unfortunately for them, plenty of people had already made and shared copies across social media where the merciless mockery continued.

Keep ReadingShow less
Carly Rae Jepsen (left) revealed her baby boy’s name was inspired by Heated Rivalry (right).
Natasha Moustache/Getty Images; Courtesy of Crave

Carly Rae Jepsen Reveals Her Baby's Name Was Inspired By 'Heated Rivalry'—And Fans Are So Here For It

If the Venn diagram of Carly Rae Jepsen fans and Heated Rivalry fans wasn’t already a circle, this might finally do it.

The "Call Me Maybe" singer just revealed that her first child with husband Cole M.G.N. is a baby boy named Ilya—and yes, that Ilya may have had something to do with it. While speaking with The Hollywood Reporter about her new album, Day and Night, Jepsen opened up about her love for Heated Rivalry before casually dropping the baby-name revelation.

Keep ReadingShow less
Donald Trump; meme showing firefighters carrying Donald Trump
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images; @AnnieforTruth/X

Trump's Dubious Claim That Two 'Big Strong' Firemen Carried Him Away From Danger On 9/11 Sparks Hilariously Fitting Memes

After President Donald Trump dubiously claimed that two firefighters picked him up and rushed him away from a building they thought was about to collapse after the September 11 terror attacks, social media users reacted with a flurry of memes to mock his latest lie about the event.

Trump made the claim during Tuesday’s Tunnel to Towers event on the Ellipse. He said that firefighters had actually pulled him to safety after hearing that a building would collapse near Ground Zero.

Keep ReadingShow less
TikTok screenshots
@renwithoutcontext/TikTok; @chle.m/TikTok

'Bamboozled' Mom Sparks Debate After Calling Out Ex's Fiancée For Dyeing Daughter's Hair—But Dad Has Very Different Story

A mother and TikTok content creator who goes by the names Ren and Serenity (@renwithoutcontext) on the platform posted a video about something that happened during her ex's custody time with their minor child. The post, which currently has over 2.1 million views and over 66,000 comments, started a spirited debate over coparenting rules and boundaries.

In the initial TikTok, Ren stated she (air quotes) coparents with their ex, but that he'd given his daughter and his fiancée permission to dye the child's hair purple without Ren's prior knowledge or consent. She added she had been nice, but won't be any longer.

Keep ReadingShow less