21 September 2023 , 12:41
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If it's been a hard week at work, you might treat yourself to a pint in the pub with pals as a way to wind down. There's nothing quite like the taste of a crisp refreshing beer hitting your lips while you're having a good catch-up.
But did you know that some beers feature a bizarre ingredient that would make your stomach turn, and possibly put you off beer for life?
Don't worry, you're not alone, as many people are only just realising that some beers contain isinglass. 'What's that?' we hear you ask. Well, in short, it's fish bladder. According to the pros at Green's beer, lots of breweries use the stuff, defined as a "gelatine-like substance" that's made "by drying and processing the swim-bladders of certain fish."
Put off your pint yet? Thankfully there is sound logic to using the ingredient, as isinglass makes your beer appear "clearer and brighter". During the brewing process, most of the isinglass will disappear, however, but the animal by-product will be enough to make most vegetarians and vegans squirm. New breweries commonly avoid using isinglass in their products, as they are conscious it might turn-off potential punters.
And it's not just beer that contains some questionable ingredients. Did you know that when you're tucking into vanilla-flavoured foods, it may well contain an essence derived from beaver anal glands, known as castoreum? Beavers may use it to mark their territory, but we use it to make things delicious.
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If your food is dyed red, it may contain ground-up bugs which create a red dye known as carmine. It is made by removing the carminic acid from female cochineal bugs. Starbucks ran into trouble in 2012 when it claimed that some of its beverages were vegan, despite the fact that they contained the bug extract. Carmine is still used by a variety of companies and can be in products such as jams and cakes, so make sure to check the labels of the food you're buying if you want to avoid it.
Some loaves of bread also contain a chemical derived from human hair, also known as L-cysteine. It is used to lengthen the shelf-life of products like bread and can also be derived from chicken feathers, duck feathers, and cow horns. The Food Standards Agency regulations in Europe mean only L-cysteine products produced from duck and chicken feathers can be used. So in the UK, your loaf thankfully won't contain any human hair, but that might not be the case everywhere else.