The Rainbow That Might Poison You
When you grab a bag of colorful Skittles or treat yourself to a bright Pop-Tart, you’re probably not thinking about the chemical cocktail hiding inside. Eating Skittles can be nostalgic, but you’re also partaking in a handful of additives that have been banned in numerous other countries. Skittles include both Yellow 5 and Yellow 6, artificial food dyes that have raised flags due to their potential adverse effects. Some research has found a possible correlation between Yellow 5 and heightened hyperactivity in children, while rat studies exploring Yellow 6 have uncovered potential links to tumors in the testes and adrenal glands.
That’s why a few European countries have completely outlawed the use of Yellow 5 and Yellow 6. While they now are permitted in the European Union, they have to carry warnings that they cause adverse effects in children. They are also banned in foods for infants and young children. Meanwhile, American kids munch on these dyes daily with no warnings whatsoever.
The Breakfast Cereal Controversy
These popular breakfast cereals contain BHT, a flavor enhancer, which has long been studied for its potential carcinogenic properties; the evidence is inconclusive. It is banned in Japan and the European Union. Your morning bowl of Frosted Flakes or Honey Nut Cheerios might be starting your day with a suspected carcinogen that most of the world won’t touch.
Famous breakfast cereals like Apple Jax, Frosted Flakes, Honey Bunches of Oats, and Rice Krispie Treats contain this preservative to extend the shelf life and maintain the texture of the cereal. Pillsbury’s classic premade pie dough also contains this as well as Kraft’s Stove Top stuffing contain it as well. The irony is thick – we’re feeding our families chemicals for breakfast that other nations have deemed too dangerous for consumption.
The Creamer That Clogs Your Arteries
Trans fats like the partially hydrogenated soybean and cottonseed oils in Coffee-mate are linked to heart disease and were officially banned in the U.S. as of June 18, 2018. However, they still linger in the U.S. food supply. That splash of Coffee-mate in your morning cup might be delivering a dose of heart-damaging fats that were supposed to disappear years ago.
Hydrogenated soybean and cottonseed oils got Coffee-mate banned in Austria, Hungary and several Scandinavian countries. The chemical transformation of these oils creates trans fats that wreak havoc on your cardiovascular system, yet somehow they’re still sneaking into American products.
The Meat That Makes Animals Collapse
The U.S. meat industry uses ractopamine to accelerate weight gain and promote feed efficiency and leanness in pigs, cattle, and turkeys. The drug mimics stress hormones. Currently, it is estimated that 160 countries of the 196 in the world ban or restrict ractopamine. This isn’t just about a chemical additive – it’s about a drug so controversial that roughly four out of five nations worldwide refuse to allow it.
The FDA has linked ractopamine to nearly a quarter-million reported adverse events in pigs (more than half of those pigs were sickened or killed) — more than any other animal drug. These pigs became lame or unable to stand, started trembling, or suffered a host of other ailments. Hogs and cattle fed with ractopamine become so muscle-bound that they walk like arthritic old men, and they must be beaten to get them to go down the chute to slaughter. Ractopamine can also cause profound sickness and death in animals, along with agitation, shortness of breath, trembling, and lameness.
The Growth Hormones in Your Milk
rGBH, also known as rBST, is a man-made growth hormone fed to dairy cows to boost milk production. US milk is banned in Japan, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the EU. Every glass of conventional milk in America potentially contains synthetic hormones that the rest of the developed world has rejected as unsafe.
The hormone forces cows to produce up to roughly fifteen percent more milk than they naturally would, but at what cost? The excess stress on the animals leads to increased infections, requiring more antibiotics. These antibiotics and hormones make their way into the milk supply, creating a chemical cocktail that other nations simply won’t accept.
The Genetically Modified Staples
In 2020, GMO soybeans made up 94% of all soybeans planted, GMO cotton made up 96% of all cotton planted, and 92% of corn planted was GMO corn. In 2013, GMO canola made up 95% of canola planted while GMO sugar beets made up 99.9% of all sugar beets harvested. Nearly everything in American agriculture has been genetically modified, yet much of the world treats these crops with extreme caution.
In the European Union the following countries have banned GMOS: France, Germany, Austria, Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Poland, Denmark, Malta, Slovenia, Italy, and Croatia. In Africa, Algeria and Madagascar have banned GMOs, and in Asia, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, Bhutan, and Saudi Arabia. Hawaiian papayas like the SunUp and Rainbow varieties have been genetically modified since the 1990s to resist the ringspot virus. These GMO fruits are common in the US but are largely blocked abroad.
The Bread Whitener That’s Really Yoga Mat Foam
The fast-food chain uses the chemical azodicarbonamide as a whitening agent and dough conditioner in its baked goods. Although its use is decreasing in the United States because of concerns that it is a carcinogen, the FDA still permits it. It is banned in Europe. The same chemical that makes your yoga mat spongy is being used to make your sandwich bread fluffy.
This industrial foam blowing agent breaks down into semicarbazide during baking, a compound that has caused cancer in laboratory animals. While Europe decided the risk wasn’t worth whiter bread, American regulators continue to allow its use in everything from hamburger buns to pizza dough.
The Chicken Washed in Pool Cleaner
In the US, the practice of washing chicken in chlorine is done to mitigate the potential spread of foodborne illnesses, particularly Salmonella. It’s not just used to wash chicken, either. Chlorine can also be found in produce, canned vegetables, other meats and many baked goods. This food safety approach is prohibited in the UK and the EU due to concerns about its association with unhygienic farming methods.
In the US, poultry is often rinsed in chlorine to kill bacteria like Salmonella, a practice banned in the EU and UK since 1997. European regulators argue that chemical rinses can obscure poor hygiene earlier in the production chain. It’s like using mouthwash to cover up the fact that you never brush your teeth – the real problem remains hidden.
The Forever Chemicals in Your Takeout
PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are synthetic chemicals with grease, water, and heat-resistant properties. PFAS have been used in fast-food wrappers, microwave popcorn bags, and takeout containers. PFAS are also known as “forever chemicals” because they persist in the environment (including drinking water) and human bodies. Ingestion of these chemicals is linked to severe health issues, including cancer, immune dysfunction, and developmental problems.
The European Union, Denmark, and Canada have banned or are phasing out PFAS, reflecting a more precautionary approach to public health. However, in February 2024, the FDA announced a major milestone — the voluntary phase-out of PFAS-based grease-proofing materials in food packaging. The emphasis on “voluntary” is telling – while other countries mandate safety, America relies on corporate goodwill.
The Artificial Sweetener That Causes Bladder Cancer
And in January 2025, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a ban on the use of Red Dye No. 3 in all foods and ingested drugs. Enforcement of this ban is scheduled to begin on January 15, 2027, for foods and January 18, 2028, for ingested drugs. It only took decades of international pressure and mounting scientific evidence for the FDA to finally act on this cancer-causing dye.
That changed in 2025 when the FDA finally declared Red Dye No. 3 unsafe for food. Manufacturers have until January 15, 2027, to remove it from products. The two-year grace period speaks volumes about priorities – giving companies time to reformulate while consumers continue consuming a known carcinogen.
The Farmed Fish Fed Chemical Cocktails
Farmed fish are fed a chemical cocktail of feed including methyl mercury and dioxins. Not to mention antibiotics. Countries like Austria and New Zealand don’t go near farmed-raised fish. While salmon is seen as a healthy food and can be beneficial for heart health, farm-raised salmon can pose a risk to your health. Salmon in farms are fed chemicals and GMO food, including grains, dioxins, and PCBs, which reportedly have the potential to cause cancer. These chemicals are fed to the fish to give them the pink color of wild salmon.
The artificial pink coloring in farmed salmon comes from synthetic chemicals, not the natural diet of wild salmon. These fish are essentially swimming in a chemical soup of antibiotics, pesticides, and artificial colorants before landing on American dinner plates.
The Preservatives That Never Let Food Die
But the popular mix contains the preservatives BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole) and BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene), which have raised concerns due to suspicions of potential carcinogenic properties and their potential to hinder blood clotting. These products are outright banned in the UK, Japan, and parts of Europe. Your convenient five-minute stuffing might be delivering a dose of chemicals that prevent your blood from clotting properly.
This food carries the popular preservatives BHA and BHT, which have raised a couple of red flags for potentially having carcinogenic properties and their ability to hinder blood clotting. The irony is that these preservatives are so effective at preventing food from breaking down that they might prevent your body from functioning properly too.
The European Awakening
By 2025, European regulators cracked down on controversial food additives, cutting off imports of several American staples. That shift pushed dozens of everyday US groceries off foreign shelves. While other nations enforce stricter regulations to protect public health, the US often takes a more lenient approach, allowing additives and practices that many experts deem questionable.
Some countries, like the U.S., consider most food additives to be safe until proven otherwise. Other countries test any new additives before letting them hit grocery store shelves. The fundamental difference in approach is staggering – America assumes chemicals are safe until proven deadly, while the rest of the world demands proof of safety before allowing consumption.
The Price of Convenience
Meanwhile, healthcare spending (much of it on treating symptoms of chronic disease) is vastly higher in the US than in any other country on Earth. The connection between our chemical-laden food supply and our astronomical healthcare costs isn’t just coincidental – it’s a direct result of prioritizing corporate profits over public health.
The use of ractopamine nets pork producers more cash for each hog they sell because it directs nutrients away from the production of fat deposition in favor of production of lean meat, which weighs more. Since hog producers selling their animals for slaughter are paid by the pound, this adds up. It can put an extra $10 in a producers pocket for each animal raised, which can translate to an additional $400,000 per year for those running fairly large operations. When profits of a few hundred thousand dollars per year matter more than public health, the system has lost its way.
The next time you’re shopping for groceries, remember that much of what fills American shelves has been deemed too dangerous for consumption by the majority of the world’s nations. While we debate healthcare costs and wonder why chronic diseases are skyrocketing, perhaps we should ask ourselves: if these foods aren’t safe enough for Europeans, Japanese, or Canadians, why are they good enough for Americans?
