The hidden animal parts in your favourite foods – from sweets made from beavers’ bums to mushrooms laced with maggots
Following the news that M&S have removed all traces of gelatine from their Percy Pigs, Sun Online reveals the other food with sneaky meaty bits in
MARKS and Spencer have caused quite a divide this week after making their Percy Pigs vegetarian by removing the gelatine.
Piers Morgan was one of many Percy Pig fans outraged by the change, spitting them out live on air during Good Morning Britain yesterday and claiming the new ones taste disgusting.
Gelatine is a protein obtained by boiling animal skin, tendons, ligaments, and bones from cows and pigs with water – which sounds foul, even if it tastes good.
So what other gross things go into your favourite foods to make them taste oh-so-delicious?
What? Shellac from Thai insects
Where? Sweets and popcorn
Jelly bean lovers, look away now.
Shiny treats like jelly beans and glazed popcorn are often coated with shellac, the shiny stuff you put on your nails and polish your furniture with.
This sticky substance is alarmingly derived from secretions of the female Kerria lacca – an insect native to Thailand.
Brands like Hershey’s, Jelly Belly jellybeans, Willy Wonka and even Maraschino cherries use it to make their sweet treats shine.
What? Anal secretion of beavers
Where? Foods labelled with ‘natural flavouring’
Brace yourselves. ‘Natural flavouring’ for strawberry flavoured sweets isn’t actually derived from the fruit itself.
Some products take their flavouring from extracts of the anal secretion beavers make to mark their territories.
The animals are anaesthetised and then its nether regions are ‘milked’ because the sweet ‘musky’ smell it carries enhances other flavourings.
Luckily, because of the way it’s sourced, it’s quite expensive and is more commonly found in perfumes – but due to tricky labelling of the substance, it’s not known which high street brands do use it, although vegan brands such as Alpro say they don’t.
What? Carmine aka crushed bugs
Where? In ANYTHING dyed red such as Mr Kipling’s cakes
Cochineal insects – tiny 5mm long red bugs – are native to Latin America and millions are harvested then crushed up every year to produce the colouring.
Sounds gross, but they’re a staple of the global food industry without us realising – found in everything from yogurts and ice creams, to fruit pies, soft drinks, cupcakes and donuts.
Starbucks have stopped using them in coffee since complaints were made in 2012 – but Mr Kipling cakes still use them.
They’re also found in Skittles and Hartley’s Jelly.
What? L-Cysteine – amino acid derived from dog or human hair and duck feathers
Where? Bagels, bread and donuts
L-cysteine is an amino acid that is used in commercial breads to extend the shelf life, and is mainly made up of the human hair swept from the floors of Chinese barbers.
Dog hairs and duck or hen feathers are also used, too. The fluff is gathered into a pot and boiled with hydrochloric acid to produce L-Cysteine.
Burger King use it in their buns and Dunkin Donuts in the US admit to using it. Yummy.
What? Rennet – calves stomach
Where? Dairy products like cheese and milk
The scraped stomach lining is then washed, dried, and softened in a solution of brine for four-to-five days to make a thick liquid. This is used to bind ingredients and solidify cheese.
It can also be found in whey products, like protein shakes.
Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Daim bars and McDonald’s Hot Chocolate are confirmed as containing animal rennet.
What? Fish membranes
Where? Beer, wine and stouts
Beer may contain high levels of iron, but it also contains Isinglass – or fish bladder.
It’s used as part of the filtering process in many wines, beers and stouts.
The bladder is removed from fish, then dried and pressed into thin sheets. When the fermentation of beer is finished, Isinglass is added to the brew to bind any floating yeast particles.
Mites and maggots
Where? Canned mushrooms
America’s Food and Drug Administration legally allow ‘a maximum of 19 maggots and 74 mites’ in each tin of canned mushrooms.
Make sure you reach for cans that are produced here in the UK, as the British Food Standard Authority say ‘the expectation of food is that it is not contaminated.’
What? Breast implant silicone
Where? McDonald’s Chicken Nuggets
Probably not considered the most healthy anyway, but nuggets are actually only about 50 percent chicken. The rest comprises of synthetic ingredients, including dimethylpolysiloxane, a chemical used in silicone that used in breast implants.
The silicon is used in the fast food chain’s fryers as an anti-foaming agent to stop splashing or foaming, then it’s absorbed into the nuggets.
What? Crushed shells and marrow
Where? Wine
During the winemaking process, the liquid is filtered through fining agents such as crushed egg albumen shells and bone marrow, which help produce a less-sharp or vinegary taste with a smoother consistency.
Most wines contain this, unless they are marked ‘vegan’.
What? White sugar filtered through animal bones
Where? Pretty much everything that is tasty, sadly
To , sugarcane stalks are crushed into a juice and then filtered and bleached with bone char, mainly from cattle and pork bones.