This year, the global food market revenue stands at around 9.36 trillion US dollars. For comparison, Germany's entire economy is valued at "just" $4.4 trillion. What's more, it's estimated that the figure should continuously increase between 2023 and 2028 by 38.46 percent and reach $12.97 trillion.
But big money brings tough competition, and businesses may try all sorts of tactics to get an edge.
Interested in the practices of this sector, Reddit user Lilyxrx made a post on the platform, asking everyone, "What's a secret the food industry doesn't want you to know?" Turns out, many more wanted to know, too. As of now, the post has 4.6K upvotes and 3.5K comments. Here are some of the most interesting ones.
#1
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.
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383points
#2
The American FDA takes food additive safety claims from corporations at face value. If a corporation has done internal testing and says it’s safe the FDA approves it. In the EU, Canada, Australia, New Zealand etc if a corporation wants to get an additive approved, the governments have their own food labs. They will take your testing procedures/results and then do their own testing to see if they think your additives are safe, and then approve or deny accordingly. Same goes for medicines in farm animals. Canada won’t allow BGH (bovine growth hormone) as it shows up in the milk. America gets angry because they can’t sell dairy to Canada and the EU but we have rules banning widespread use of Antibiotics and hormones in farm animals. If you are ever travelling outside of America, pick up some food products off the shelf that look like the American brands and read the ingredients list. It’s probably half as long. I’ll let you work out that obesity epidemic cause for yourselves.
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341points
We managed to get in touch with the author of the post, and they were kind enough to have a little chat with us about it.
"I own a TikTok account where I repost questions from 'Ask Reddit' and the replies they receive, so I thought I might as well create my own thread," Lilyxrx told Bored Panda about its origins.
#3
Five Guys- not really a secret but everything was fresh as could be, we did not have a freezer at all only the fridge. Every morning the burgers were rolled into balls and weighed to make sure all were the same. Bread made fresh from local factories. Potatoes straight from Idaho or Washington. Freshly cut and washed 3 times to remove the starch before being cooked. All veggies were labled by date for freshness. Honestly probably one of the cleanest places ive worked at.
Also at the register every single person would ask why it was so expensive but proceeded to buy it anyway. As if I could change the price for them.
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252points
#4
They're making BANK windfall record profits right now under the guise of "inflation" and "supply issues".
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243points
After going through the discussion their post has ignited, the Redditor has noticed that one theme definitely stood out from the rest. "From what I can see, it seems that the food industry is more unsanitary than we think," they said.
And they're probably right. Unsafe food containing harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites, or chemical substances can cause more than 200 different diseases, ranging from diarrhea to cancer. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that around 600 million – almost 1 in 10 people – fall ill after eating contaminated food each year, resulting in 420,000 deaths and 33 million healthy life years (DALYs).
#5
Chef here. It’s salt and fat. If you have a question about anything it’s salt and fat.
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226points
#6
Cows make milk not because they are cows but because they are mothers
223points
However, as we can see from this list, not all parts of the industry are working as they should (and there are plenty of things we regular folks don't know about) even though we all depend on it.
Lilyxrx believes that we often end up in the dark because of greedy businessmen and corporations, as industry leaders would rather chase money and cover up their questionable conduct instead of doing everything by the book.
Sadly, there are plenty of examples that support their words. And we don't need to look that far back to find something. On the night of October 4, Homeland Security and FBI agents teamed up for a raid on Gerber's Poultry in Ohio, United States, and found over two dozen children (mostly said to be from Guatemala) who were illegally employed in meat processing and sanitation.
Hopefully, with time and effort, the industry becomes more transparent.
#7
The reason restaurant food tastes better than what you make at home is probably because it was drowned in butter or oil.
Also MSG is in nearly everything. Totally safe and delicious. And it definitely isn’t what is giving you a migraine. The fact you ate 4000 calories and 3 times your daily salt intake is probably what gave you the headache.
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219points
#8
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.
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201points
#9
At least up until the pandemic hit, there is a 100% chance that you've eaten at a restaurant where 1 or 2 of the people directly handling your food were legitimately sick enough that they should have stayed home, but they had to come in to work anyway because they couldn't get their shift covered and they can't get a doctor's note without insurance or the money for a copay.
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201points
#10
Everything on the Mexican menu uses the same ingredients. Just built it different and give it a different name
Tortillas
Cheese
Salsa
Beans
Rice
Meat
Cheese
Salsa
Beans
Rice
Meat
Tacos, burrito, chilaquiles, tostada, chimichanga
It's all the same thing!
* written by a Mexican cook
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201points
#11
The amount of sugar that goes into costco bakery products is absurd, especially the apple pie. That being said; Costco does not f**k 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.
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198points
#12
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.
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194points
#13
The trick to good fried rice is old rice. It has to dry out for a bit in the fridge.
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182points
#14
Many of the cooks making your food are high and/or drunk.
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168points
#15
It's not exactly a secret, but it's not common knowledge either.
Except for infant formula, dates are not an indicator of the product’s safety and are not required by Federal law. Phrases like "Best by [ date ]" or "Sell by" or "Use by" aren't regulated or required, and they are not (outside of baby formula) a statement of safety.
Manufacturers would rather have you throw out product, wasting it, and buying more, than stockpiling. So they put "best by" or "use by" dates even on non-perishible items like *salt*.
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166points
#16
the organic industry is a f*****g scam.
there are levels to this s**t, and yes, you can purchase food that is grown and/or sourced more ethically than other options, but don't kid yourself. it was most likely still grown on a factory farm, and chemicals were used, etc. etc. just different chemicals.
and a lot of it comes from china. no s**t.
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152points
#17
I'm a trucker who hauls mostly refrigerated freight. I pick up at a lot of slaughterhouses. You really, really don't want to know what those places are like; let alone the conditions at feedlots or CAFOs.
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144points
#18
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
141points
#19
When you give back a pack of ketchup to the restaurant because you didn’t use it, they thank you and smile and then they throw it out because you’re probably a weirdo who injected bleach into the ketchup pack.
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141points
#20
I used to work in a sliced bread factory. The amount of bread that gets thrown in the trash for being just a little overcooked after a mechanical failure is astonishing. I always thought they should give it to homeless shelters something like that
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140points