14 Food Industry Practices Fact-Checked: What Holds Up

14 Food Industry Practices, and Which Claims Hold Up

Some of the most shared "food secrets" are true, some are half-true, and a few are simply wrong. Cochineal really is made from insects, shredded cheese really does contain cellulose, and Greek yogurt really does leave behind a difficult waste stream. On the other hand, MSG cannot legally be hidden on a US label, the extra ingredients in ice cream are approved additives rather than poisons, and veggie burgers are not "more toxic" than beef.

Below are fourteen claims about how familiar foods are made, grouped by type, with what holds up, what has changed since they first went viral in 2014, and what you can do at the supermarket if you want to eat closer to the source.

Why food processing stays out of sight

Most of us never see a dairy plant, a juice tank farm or a sausage line. Labels are short, ingredient names are technical, and words like "natural," "fresh" and "real" carry less legal weight than shoppers assume. In the United States, "natural" has no strict regulatory definition for most foods, which is why consumer groups have challenged it in court for years.

That gap between what we imagine and what actually happens is where viral lists thrive. The useful question is not "is this processed?" (almost everything is, including bread and cheese) but "is this practice harmful, misleading, or just unfamiliar?" Keep that question in mind as you read.

Dairy: yogurt, milk, ice cream, cheese and creamer

1. Greek yogurt leaves behind a lot of acid whey

True. Straining yogurt to make it thick takes three to four ounces of milk for every ounce of Greek yogurt. The liquid that drains off is acid whey, and the US Northeast alone produced an estimated 150 million gallons of it in 2012. It cannot simply be poured away: as it breaks down in rivers it strips oxygen from the water, and spills of the related cheese whey have killed thousands of fish. The word "toxic" in the viral version overstates it, though. Whey is not poisonous; it is a pollutant in large quantities, much like milk itself. Producers send most of it to farms as livestock feed or fertiliser, and some goes into anaerobic digesters that turn it into biogas, as Modern Farmer reported during the Greek yogurt boom.

2. Supermarket milk is pooled, standardised and heat-treated

Mostly true, but not sinister. Commercial milk combines the output of many cows, is adjusted to a set fat level, pasteurised and usually homogenised so the cream does not rise. A 2000 Los Angeles Times report described California herds of around 800 cows eating mixed rations and said about a third of the state's herds were then treated with a growth hormone to raise yield; that hormone has since become much less common as many processors stopped accepting milk from treated cows. Pasteurisation is a major public-health success that kills bacteria such as Listeria and Salmonella, and homogenisation simply breaks fat into smaller droplets. If you want milk with more character, small dairies and grass-fed labels exist, but standard milk is still milk.

3. Ice cream relies on stabilisers and emulsifiers

Most ice creams are thickened and stabilized with a slew of toxic ingredients.

True, but "toxic" is wrong. Many commercial ice creams use ingredients such as guar gum, xanthan gum, carrageenan, soy lecithin, mono- and diglycerides or polysorbate 80 to keep texture smooth and stop ice crystals forming. These are approved food additives used in small amounts. Some researchers are studying whether certain emulsifiers affect gut bacteria, and people with specific sensitivities may prefer to avoid them, but that is a long way from calling them poison. The old tip that ice cream which melts quickly tends to contain fewer stabilisers and less whipped-in air is reasonable; reading the ingredient list is quicker.

4. Shredded cheese contains cellulose

Shredded cheese is packed with refined wood pulp to prevent sticking.

True. Pre-shredded cheese is often dusted with powdered cellulose (E460) so the strands do not clump in the bag. Industrial cellulose is mostly made from wood pulp or cotton, which explains the "sawdust" headlines, but chemically it is the same plant fibre found in vegetables, and it passes through the body undigested. It is listed on the label. If you dislike the idea, a block of cheese and a grater solve the problem and usually melt better.

5. Coffee creamer contains little or no cream

Coffee creamer is made from corn syrup and (trans fatty acids/hydrogenated) vegetable oils.

True for many non-dairy creamers. The original liquid Coffee-mate formula listed water, sugar or corn syrup solids, partially hydrogenated soybean and cottonseed oil, sodium caseinate (a milk protein), stabilisers, emulsifiers, flavouring and carrageenan. The key change since this claim went viral is the oil: the US Food and Drug Administration ruled in 2015 that partially hydrogenated oils, the main source of artificial trans fat, were no longer generally recognised as safe, and manufacturers had to remove them. Creamers today typically use other vegetable oils, but they remain a sweetened, flavoured oil emulsion rather than dairy cream.

Juice, cherries and red colourings

6. "Not from concentrate" orange juice is stored and flavoured

Largely true. To supply juice all year, large producers remove oxygen from fresh juice (a process called deaeration) and store it in large tanks for months. That process strips away much of the aroma, so flavour components extracted from oranges are blended back in to give a consistent taste. Because those components come from the orange, US labelling standards do not require them to be listed separately, as Civil Eats explained. Calling them "artificial" is a stretch, but "100% pure" juice is more engineered than the carton suggests. Freshly squeezed juice, or simply eating the orange, avoids the question.

7. Maraschino cherries are bleached and re-dyed

True. Modern maraschino cherries start as light-coloured sweet cherries held in a brine of sulphur dioxide and calcium chloride, which bleaches and firms them. They are then soaked in sugar syrup and colouring, typically FD&C Red 40 in the US. The method was developed in the 1920s by Oregon State horticulture professor Ernest Wiegand; the original maraschino was a Dalmatian marasca cherry preserved in liqueur. Some brands used Red No. 3, which the FDA revoked for food use in January 2025, with manufacturers given until 15 January 2027 to reformulate. The FDA said the rat cancer finding behind the ban does not apply to people, but US law does not allow additives shown to cause cancer in animals. A factory video shows the process.

8. Many red and pink foods are coloured with insects

Food products that are red and pink are often dyed with cochineal extract, also known as tiny crushed insect bodies.

True. Carmine, also called cochineal extract or E120, comes from the cochineal scale insect, and about 70,000 insects are needed for a pound of dye. People have used it for centuries, and it appears in yogurts, sweets, drinks and cosmetics. In the US it must be named on the label as "carmine" or "cochineal extract," and in the EU as carmine or E120. It is safe for most people, though a small number are allergic, and vegetarians and vegans often avoid it. Business Insider has a photo guide to how it is made.

Processed meat: hot dogs and bacon

9. Hot dogs often contain mechanically separated meat

True for many cheaper brands. Mechanically separated meat is a paste made by pressing bones with meat still attached through a sieve under high pressure. In the US it has been barred from human food when made from beef since 2004 because of mad cow disease concerns, while poultry and pork versions are allowed but must be named on the label. Many hot dogs also contain starch, sugar or corn syrup, sodium nitrite, phosphates and flavourings. Recipes vary widely between brands, so the label, not a viral percentage, is the guide. Health bodies advise keeping processed meat to an occasional food because regular consumption is linked to higher bowel cancer risk.

10. Some bacon gets its smoky flavour from liquid smoke

(The video originally embedded here is no longer available on YouTube.)

True. Liquid smoke is made by burning wood with little oxygen and condensing the vapour into water. Producers spray, drench or inject it into meat to give a smoked taste and colour without hours in a smokehouse. Regulators have looked at it closely: after the European Food Safety Authority found that genotoxicity concerns could not be ruled out for eight smoke flavourings, EU member states agreed in April 2024 not to renew their authorisation. The phase-out allows two years for foods such as soups, crisps and sauces, and five years for foods where the flavouring replaces traditional smoking, such as ham, fish and cheese. Industry references on meat ingredients describe how it is applied.

Soup: MSG and the canning process

11. MSG is hidden in canned soup under other names

Many canned soups are flavored with msg, even when they specify they are not.

Misleading. In the US, added monosodium glutamate must be listed by name. Ingredients such as yeast extract, hydrolysed vegetable protein and autolysed yeast contain free glutamate naturally, and the FDA does not let products containing them claim "No MSG." So the glutamate is on the label, just not always under the word MSG. As for safety, the FDA classes MSG as generally recognised as safe. A scientific review found that some sensitive people may get short-lived, mild symptoms after 3 grams or more without food, while a typical serving contains less than half a gram. The 2008 advertising fight between Campbell and Progresso over MSG was about marketing, not hidden poison. If you prefer to limit glutamate, check for these ingredient names.

12. Canned soup vegetables are bred to survive the cooker

Partly true. Low-acid canned foods must be heated under pressure to roughly 115 to 121°C (240 to 250°F) to kill bacterial spores, including those that cause botulism. That treatment turns delicate vegetables to mush, so manufacturers choose varieties, cuts and sizes that hold up. A 2002 Slate article described unusually large carrots grown for one soup maker; "mutant" is a colourful word for careful crop selection, not genetic monstrosity. The heat is a safety step, and canned vegetables keep much of their fibre and minerals.

Plant products: veggie burgers and olive oil

13. Veggie burgers and hexane

Vegetarian burgers are far more toxic than conventional beef patties.

The worry has a basis; the conclusion does not. Many soy-based meat alternatives use soy protein made from defatted soy flour, and the oil is usually extracted from the beans with hexane, a petroleum solvent that is mostly removed during processing. In 2010 the Cornucopia Institute had soy ingredients tested and reported hexane residues in some samples. Residues are a fair question for regulators, but no evidence was offered that veggie burgers are "far more toxic" than beef. The claim that 99 percent of veggie burgers use soy isolate is also out of date: many now use pea, wheat or mixed proteins. It is true that most US soy is genetically engineered; herbicide-tolerant varieties covered 96 percent of soybean acres in 2024 and 2025, according to the USDA. Major scientific bodies consider approved GM foods as safe to eat as conventional ones.

14. Some "extra virgin" olive oil is not what it claims

Many olive oils “extra virgin” imported (and expensive) are actually made with cheaper oils of seeds and nuts.

True, and well documented. Olive oil is a high-value product and has been a target for fraud, from blending in cheaper seed oils to selling lower grades as extra virgin or mislabelling the country of origin. Journalist Tom Mueller exposed much of this in a 2007 New Yorker report, later expanded into his book Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil. Buying from producers that print a harvest date, choosing oil in dark glass, and looking for recognised quality seals all reduce your risk. A peppery, fruity taste is a good sign. For more on choosing cooking fats, see Prevent Disease's oils article, read with the same critical eye.

How to shop with your eyes open

Read the ingredient list, not the front of the pack. Words such as "natural" or "pure" are marketing; the ingredient list is regulated.
Learn a few names. Carmine or E120 means insect-based colouring; yeast extract and hydrolysed protein mean natural glutamate; cellulose means plant fibre.
Choose less processed versions when it matters to you. Block cheese, plain yogurt, fresh fruit, and meat from a butcher sidestep many of these issues.
Separate "unfamiliar" from "unsafe." An odd-sounding ingredient is not automatically harmful. Food safety agencies such as the FDA and EFSA publish their assessments, and they do change their minds when evidence changes, as with Red No. 3 and smoke flavourings.
Ask your doctor about specific concerns. If you have allergies or a medical condition that affects what you eat, a doctor or registered dietitian can advise you.

The honest summary is that the food industry does rely on processes most shoppers never see, and a few of them deserve scrutiny. But the most useful response is knowledge, not fear: once you know what the words on the label mean, you can choose what fits your own priorities.

Sources: FDA: Questions and answers on MSG; Nutritional Outlook (2025): FDA revokes Red No. 3; European Commission (2024): smoke flavourings; Modern Farmer (2013): Greek yogurt acid whey; Wikipedia: Mechanically separated meat; Wikipedia: Carmine; Wikipedia: Liquid smoke; Wikipedia: Cellulose; USDA ERS: GE crop adoption; original list by April McCarthy, Prevent Disease, via The Mind Unleashed.

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