"Please, Cracked," you're already pleading, "Don't do this. Let me live my beautiful lie that is eating healthy and fresh. Don't take this from me."
Sorry, hypothetical reader, but duty calls. We all like to think we can add a few years to our lives by carefully choosing what we buy at the grocery store, but sometimes you'd be better off closing your eyes and throwing the first thing you find into your cart. Why? Because the food industry keeps fooling us into buying less-than-ideal products, using carny-level tricks like ...
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Meat Is Packed With Carbon Monoxide To Make It Look Redder
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One thing we all take for granted is that it's pretty easy to tell when food has gone bad, since you can usually just look at it. If that package of ground beef has turned a sickly color, is covered in mold, or has spontaneously grown an eyeball, that's when you know it's time to throw it out. Remember to cook it up while it's still a nice vibrant red, like you're eating the heart of your enemy to gain their courage, and you'll be good, right?
Unfortunately, the meat industry is on to our crafty tricks, and they've come up with a rather devious solution: They're packing meat with carbon monoxide, or CO, to make it stay deliciously red far longer than it should, even after it has spoiled.
via preventdisease.com
"Oxygen hates him. Click to find out his secret."
You might recognize CO as the invisible, odorless gas that can straight-up murder your ass if you breathe in too much of it. The small amount in your meat won't kill you, but the meat itself might if you don't pay attention to the expiration date, because the color basically means shit.
Naturally, the food industry defended this practice, claiming it made the meat easier to distribute, and would also "prevent shrinkage," like a synthetic chemical fluffer. For once, thankfully, the government wasn't buying it; during a congressional hearing on the practice, they showed one package of meat that still looked pink and edible after two freaking years, at which point the meat could probably eat you instead.
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