Food producers nowadays use additives and chemicals in their products to make them "better" and last longer. As people globally tend to take care of their health, they believe that such food can be poisonous. Bright Side found 12 secrets that will help you save yourself from food poisoning. Check them out below. 12. Cottage cheese Do you crave some real cottage cheese? Then you need to know that some dairy producers add starch to it, which turns the final product into curd instead. How to check: Add a few drops of iodine to it, and stir well. If it turns blue, then it is really poor-quality "curd" and not a cottage cheese. 11. Milk Have you always wanted to enjoy high-quality fresh farm milk bought from a supermarket? Well, most milk companies also add normalized milk to their product. Normalized milk has been altered to either be low fat or skimmed. How to check: To detect a fake milk, mix it with a pure spirit in a ratio of 1:2. If the milk is good quality, flakes will appear in 5-7 seconds; if it is fake, it will take much longer. 10. Crystallized fruit Crystallized fruits are fruits, berries, and sometimes even vegetables boiled in sugar syrup, then dried. Remember that real crystallized fruits are never brightly colored. How to check: Dip the candied fruits into warm water: if they become colorless or dissolve completely, this means the manufacturer tricked you with some gelatin and food dyes. 9. Butter Do you love having toast with butter for breakfast? Beware, some kinds of butter contain vegetable oils like palm oil, making them margarine. How to check: Put a piece of butter into boiling water. It will quickly melt and form a layer on the surface. Margarine will turn into pieces. Another way to see if butter contains cream is to simply freeze it and then cut it with a knife. If the pieces are even and it cuts well, you have real buttery butter in front of you. 8. White rice Thinking about a bowl of fried rice, but doubting its quality? Some rice brands replace the real thing with synthetic resin and potatoes: it looks natural but will not taste good. How to check: Take a spoonful of rice, and set it on fire. Fake rice will smell of plastic and have black smoke. 7. Caviar Caviar is a luxury product for many of us. Yet even among caviar brands, there are some fake ones. Such caviar is made of seaweed. Though it looks and tastes natural, it is not real. How to check: Put some of the caviar into boiling water. If it is real, the protein will fold and form a white trail. The fake one will dissolve in the water. 6. Honey Honey producers come up with all sorts of ideas for how to increase the final product’s weight — from adding chalk or starch to flour. How to check: Dissolve a spoonful of honey in water, and add a few drops of acetic acid. If the mixture starts to bubble and hiss, your dessert has some chalk in it. Flour and starch in honey can be detected by adding iodine — the mix will become dark. 5. Wine It’s Friday night and you want to sip on a glass of red? The yummy beverage may also be fake. It can be made of powdered wine. How to check: Take a tablespoon of baking soda, and pour some wine over it. The chemical reaction will turn it blue, and this means that your drink has grape starch in it. Powdered wine will not change its color. 4. Mayo For the mayo lovers out there! A quality mayo must include egg powder only. Sometimes they use starch and additives, which can be harmful to you. How to check: A few drops of iodine will determine if it has starch, and the mixture will become dark in color. 3. Fish Fish for Sunday brunch? As it is a product that perishes quickly, you need to be extra careful when buying one in the fish market. How to check: The fish eyes and skin must be of a uniform color, the scales even, and the gills red. Old fish will have uneven scales, dark gills, and a bad smell. Some sellers may hide these signs: they scrape the scales and cut off the heads and fins. Watch for meat to be red or pink, not brown. 2. Eggs Eggs can also perish very quickly. If you want to cook a tasty omelet, fresh eggs are a must. How to check: Take a jug of cold water, and place an egg in it. A horizontally sunken egg is fresh. A slightly elevated egg means it is not that fresh but can be used for baking. If an egg floats at the top, it is better to throw it away. 1. Fresh fruits Smoothie-lovers usually pick fresh fruits only. That is why checking their freshness is important. Nowadays, farmers tend to use a lot of chemicals while growing the fruits. So some of the yummy berries may contain pesticides and nitrates. How to check: Take strawberries, mash them, and mix with sugar. Fresh, pesticide-free berries will have a lot of juice. Fresh strawberries will also have a fruity smell and will be red, not a dark color. Oranges will be firm, even colored, and have no mold on them. Source
