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Chocolate topping on donuts in a candy workshop. And Hands of worker working with digital tablet check product on the conveyor belt in the beverage factory. Worker checking bottling line for processing. Inspection quality control
Cheapism / LuckyBusiness/istockphoto / Amorn Suriyan/istockphoto

Just remember the old saying that “ignorance is bliss.” People started saying that whenever ago because it’s really true. There are certain truths, hard and brutally eye-opening truths in this life, that we’re simply better off not knowing about in the first place. 

When it comes to the book of secrets that the food industry is keeping under lock and key (seemingly literally sometimes), there are some daunting revelations, to say the very least. Here are just a few food industry insights recently shared by Redditors.

There’s Often Nothing Natural About Those Flavors.

An image of a group of bananas.
Stefan Tomic

Yes, as fate would have it, those allegedly natural flavors aren’t so natural at all. Redditor u/irony_in_the_UK writes, “The “natural flavors” are just big jugs of glycerin with hyper concentrated flavoring in it. Banana flavoring is fairly flammable.” So, don’t go messing around with banana flavoring any time soon. 

Organic Honey May Not Be So Organic After All.

Pot of honey
Materio/istockphoto

Take a deep breath. We know that wasn’t an easy truth to digest. But Redditor u/toad__warrior writes, “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.”

Related: Meaning of ‘Organic’ To Become Clearer Under Tougher USDA Rules

Chocolate Covered Donuts Might Not Be So Covered In Chocolate..

Chocolate topping on donuts in a working atmosphere in a candy workshop. Pastry, dessert, sweet, making
LuckyBusiness/istockphoto

It’s all too much already. Alas, Redditor u/gil_beard writes, “When I worked at a mass production bakery the chocolate for the chocolate covered doughnuts came in giant frozen blocks of 4×4 pieces and contained no actual chocolate whatsoever. 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.”

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You Are Likely Eating More Salt/Butter Than You Signed Up For.

An image of a customer putting their hand up to refuse more salt on their food.
frantic00/istockphoto

Yes, there could be a darker reason behind that headache that seems adamant about following you around more often than you’d ever have thought it could. Redditor u/Greylings writes, “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 4,000 calories and 3 times your daily salt intake is probably what gave you the headache.”

Related: Is MSG Actually Bad for You? Here’s Why the Flavor Enhancer Has a Bad Rap

They Shouldn’t Have Brought Cheese Into This.

An image of different kinds of cheeses that have been placed on a cutting board.
fcafotodigital/istockphoto

We were having a hard enough time as it was, digesting the prior information. Now we bring cheese into the mix. Oh no. Redditor u/anon56778903276 writes, “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.”

Related: The Funkiest Cheeses in the World

Meet the Writer

Matt has spent the last 8 or so odd years as both a writer and editor in Seattle and Brooklyn, where he is now based. He loves escaping the tirelessly fast pace of the “Mad Apple” that is NYC by taking walks and runs through parks where he’s able to catch up on the latest tea about society from the city’s ever chatty, always hungry, occasionally rabid, pigeons. When he’s not taking his urban nature strolls, or dutifully combing the deepest rabbit holes of the internet to find the content that’s worth sinking your mind’s teeth into, he’s likely holed up at a dark-lit dive bar with a book and/or some friends, or just easily he could be on the hunt for the next addition to his steadily growing plant family.