Find Out If Your Favourite Food Is On This List Of Bizzare Food Bans Around The World

Restrictions and bans are a part and parcel of every walk of life, even in the food industry. But did you ever guess that some seemingly innocent products such as samosas, almonds, chewing gum and ketchup have made their way onto these lists? Yes, thats right. Read on to find out various food items banned by various countries – some sane and some silly! 

ABSINTHE

A high-proofed, licorice-flavored spirit known for it’s hallucinogenic properties, Absinthe has been banned in several countries for most of the twentieth century. The United States lifted this ban in 2007, but with a restriction on using absinthe’s defining ingredient – worm wood or Artemsia Absthinium which contains the psychedalic Thujone. It can be produced using a related species-Artemisa abrotanum, as a flavouring ingredient. No different in taste, but you won’t be seeing the green man anymore – for sure!

BELUGA CAVIAR

Caviar, considered an elite food, is made from the eggs of a fish. Beluga Caviar comes from the eggs of the Beluga Sturgeon, a critically endangered fish that exists only in the Caspian, Black and Adriatic seas. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species has banned it’s consumption around the world, almost. Iran, which borders the Caspian, is the only country exempt from the ban as is follows sustainable conservation processes, which other countries that border the sturgeon’s native fail to do.

CHEWING GUM

Perhaps more bizzare when it comes to prohibited food, Singapore takes it’s ban on chewing gum very seriously. This ban sprung from vandalism on Singapore’s infrastructure – clogging key holes, jamming elevator doors, and deactivating subway door sensors – with chewing gum! Now, the sale of fortified chewing gum is permited exclusively by doctors and dentists.

FOIE GRAS

Although considered a delicacy in many regions of the world, foie gras has been banned in several contries because of it’s questionable methods of production. To make this delicacy, ducks or geese are force-fed corn through a feeding tube which causes their livers to grow up to ten times the normal size.
India has banned the import of foie gras, and it’s production is illegal in countries such as Germany, Israel, and Switzerland among others.

HAGGIS

Hailing from Scotland, Haggis is made of sheep heart, liver, and lungs, mixed with oatmeal, suet, and spices traditionally stuffed into a sheep’s stomach. While it sounds disgusting, it is supposed to be unparalled in terms of taste. Haggis has been banned in the United States owing to a whimsical ban on consuming the lungs of a sheep. However, lung-less versions are sold in cans or wrapped in plastic. Meanwhile, the United Kingom government is trying to coax the U.S goverment to overturn the ban.

JELLY CUPS

Jelly cups are illegal throughout Europe because they contain either konjac, konjac gum, or konjac glucomannan. These additives give the jelly cups, which are designed to be consumed whole in one gulp, their slick and slimy texture. But they have been deemed a choking hazard by the European Union. However, they are still very popular in Japan, Taiwan, and several other Asian countries.

KETCHUP

When it comes to bizzare bans, the ban on Ketchup from primary schools in France takes the cake. The French have banned Ketchup stating that students will use it to mask their traditional French cuisine. Ironically though, students are allowed to use ketchup on their French fries.

KINDER SURPRISE EGGS

Despite being hugely popular among children for a toy enclosed in delicious chocolate, Kinder Surprise Eggs have been banned in the United states. Although legal in the rest of the world, the 1938 Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act prohibits the selling of food that contains a non-nutritive object with the fear that children may choke on them.

MOUNTAIN DEW

Widely known across the world for it’s delicious citrussy flavor, Mountain Dew has been banned in Europe and Japan for the same. The unnatural citus flavor is maintained in the drink by Brominated Vegetable Oil, an additive. This chemical has been linked to causing skin and nerve damage. However, it’s use is still permitted in small amounts in the United States.

RAW ALMONDS

Popularly consumed as a snack beneficial to one’s health, the sale of 100% raw almonds is illegal in the United States. This law was passed in 2001 following a salmonella outbreak in Canada, which was later linked to an almond grower in California.

RAW MILK

The sale of unpasteurized or raw milk is banned in Canada, Scotland, Australia, and eighteen states in the United States of America because of the risk that it could carry dangerous bacteria such as listera, salmonella and E Coli. Pasteurization heats the milk to a temperature high enough to kill most harmful pathogens.

SAMOSAS

Triangular, fried dough filled with meat, potato, or lentils? No one can refuse that, it’s a universal favourite, right?
Wrong. Al Shabaab, the extemist Muslim group that controls Somalia, has banned locals under their jurisdiction from eating samosas because unscrupulous vendors were selling samosas with rotten meat. However, early reports claimed that Samosas were banned not because of this but because their triangular shape was too much like the Christian Trinity!