The Grossest Packaged Foods Ever (PHOTOS)

In honor of the Week of Eating In, where we are encouraging people to cook from scratch, we decided we had to document some of the most unsavory processed and packaged foods. Processed foods often have tons of sodium, additives, preservatives and far less nutritional value than their fresh counterparts. Whether they come in a can, a jar, or a vacuum-sealed aluminum pouch, we hope these foods will leaving you yearning for fresh food and the kind of home cooking that doesn't involve a can opener. What's the most disgusting processed food you've ever eaten?

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Potted Meat

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Because canned meats are pre-cooked and have a long shelf life, they are often used during times of emergency. One look at this ingredient list, however, and you may steer clear no matter what the circumstances. Armour Potted Meat Food Product contains: mechanically separated chicken, beef hearts, and partially defatted fatty tissue, among other things.

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Because canned meats are pre-cooked and have a long shelf life, they are often used during times of emergency. One look at this ingredient list, however, and you may steer clear no matter what the circumstances. Armour Potted Meat Food Product contains: mechanically separated chicken, beef hearts, and partially defatted fatty tissue, among other things.

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Total comments: 201 | Post a Comment

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Disgusting Foods

Rank #2  |  Average: 4

I might try that... Gag-worthy

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Grossest Packaged Foods

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Grossest Packaged Foods

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Comments

[irisisland]

02:54 PM on 03/02/2010

I don't get it...what's wrong with pork brain, snails, and beef in gelatin? Not that I like it in a can necessarily, but nothing wrong wtih eating the whole beast...makes sustainable sense, no?

[Farro]

05:41 PM on 02/28/2010

Simmenthal is delicous--I try to have some whenever I'm in Europe. I've never had Jellied eels, but I'd eat them. The rest seem gross--most of all the canned chicken (and the "potted meat").

[hswanson2]

01:41 PM on 02/28/2010

Manudo (dont know if I spelled it right) boiled pig brain stew and I am sure it comes in a can. After 3 years of living in NM I still hadn't gotten up the courage (I don't eat organs). My husband tried it - he was basically forced and said it was groooossss. He is not a very discerning eater and it was made by a wonderful cook - it available everywhere in the SW.

[Kaila]

11:33 PM on 02/26/2010

K, so recap,

it's like 4 things that are genuinely gross and people have been making fun of them on the internet since the days AOL and Angelfire

2 things that only seem gross to us because of cultural differences

and 3 things that don't really even seem that terrible.

GOOD JOB GUYS!

[satanlite]

08:41 PM on 02/27/2010

Aside from macaroni, they were all meat products. We know the tender sensitivites of some HP readers would consider a nicely done steak gag worthy.

[asklatisha]

10:56 PM on 02/26/2010

I eat with my eyes. If it don't look good I am not touching it. Thankfully I have never come across any of these foods but if I do I know that I am good because none of them look worthy of eating.

[sasha1]

01:34 PM on 02/26/2010

I guess if I was camping the all-day breakfast might come in handy. But I definitely have to know what are egg nuggets? Is that where chicken nuggets come from?

happy gagging!

[Kaila]

11:27 PM on 02/26/2010

chicken nuggets! hehe good one.

[verticallychallenged]

05:28 PM on 02/27/2010

LOL! Yuck, but LOL

[verticallychallenged]

05:35 PM on 02/27/2010

Is the All-Day Breakfast so named because you're tooting all day after eating it?

[pat63]

01:00 PM on 02/26/2010

Why are people grossed out by chicken feet, but happy to cook and munch on a chicken's wing or thigh? Or turned off by a cow's liver or brains but OK with cooking and chewing on a cow's behind?

[verticallychallenged]

05:29 PM on 02/27/2010

Well, when you put it *that* way..... :P

But I will always love scrapple.

[Madam Macrame]

12:45 PM on 02/26/2010

Canned foods were eaten long before we had refrigeration, lol. Napoleon sent his army into battle with canned food, lol. While I agree that some canned food does not appear to be appetizing, it does preserve food without refrigeration. Pigs feet, sauerkraut, eel, oxen tongue, etc, were all on the menu back then, lol. However, times have changed. We have many choices today. I prefer to cook my meals from scratch because I need to know what I am truly eating, lol. Ramen noodles is a no-no. Too much sodium for me. I cook from an old European cookbook that was published in 1891. Cabbage stew, potato stew, lintels, beans, mackerel patties, etc. ( Plenty of fiber and omega 3 ) I also grow all my own herbs, tomato, peppers, etc , in containers or plant hangers every year as soon as weather permits. PS...I would rather not eat anything my grandmother would not recognize....but then again, faced with starvation who knows, lol.

[healthnews]

08:42 AM on 02/26/2010

My parents were pretty devoted too, but Mom always made Dad clean his own fish.
http://healthnewscom.blogspot.com/

[BMcCue7]

08:25 AM on 02/26/2010

Canned food isn't always bad.

I eat a tin of King Oscar Brand Sardines everyday for lunch, with a lemon and some crackers. It seems healthy to me, and tins of sardines keep forever on the shelf.

I've tried them all, and I find that King Oscar is the best-tasting brand of sardines out there. I particularly like the brisling with the Mediterranean style sauce.

Yum!

[WistfulD]

11:03 PM on 02/26/2010

Likely-farmed fish every day? Have you had your mercury levels checked?

[BMcCue7]

09:22 AM on 02/27/2010

These little fish come from the fjords of Norway; they're not farmed.

And it's concern about mercury that keeps me eating the little fish, as opposed to larger ones like tuna. The larger the fish, the higher up the food chain, which means more mercury concentration.

The little ones are safer.

[mamabee4]

02:34 AM on 02/26/2010

My aunt Cathy used to make Potted Meat Product sandwiches with mayonaise. It would all be squishing out the sides while she was eating it. Totally gross.

[PrairieDog]

01:34 AM on 02/26/2010

Back when I was a broke student (we're talkin' 40 years ago) I picked up some hot dogs that were 20 for a dollar, which was crazy cheap even back then. At the time they were just starting to use poultry in hot dogs in addition to the traditional beef & pork. So I checked the label to see if they were chickenfurters. The ingrediants contained: mutton, pork stomachs and beef lips. Well, I figured I'd been eating this stuff all along & decided to step up my consumption & when I was done with the package I'd get myself a steak. The next time I was having these delicacies I bit in & there was a piece of grizzle. I had this vision of huge giant cow lips going "MMMOOOOOOO". Now if you find grizzle in something as homogenized as hot dogs that is not good. I pitched the rest of the open package and gave the other twin pack to some guys that were even more broke than I was. Later on I found out one of the guys discovered ants in the pancake syrup. He warmed the syrup & ran it through a strainer to get the ants out & he putm it back in the bottle. I'm not sure if they ever found his body.

[LastAngryWoman]

08:01 AM on 02/26/2010

Fanned for that wonderful story. I am still laughing, and grimacing all at the same time.

[BMcCue7]

08:26 AM on 02/26/2010

Funny story!

I like the part about the vision of huge giant cow lips.

[Jase84]

01:02 AM on 02/26/2010

I think I just threw up a little bit. I remember my great grandmother talking about eating cow brains back in the great depression. Bleck!

[irisisland]

02:59 PM on 03/02/2010

Eating cow brains or other organ meats (they are called offal) have nothing to do with the depression. In fact, the food results of famine and poverty have been pasta and potato (and other starchy products) the world-over.

Check this out and get over it: http://www.offalgood.com/

[Jase84]

06:52 PM on 03/02/2010

Apparently they do, because I have several family members who can attest to just that. Take your link and shove it.

[patsijean]

12:48 AM on 02/26/2010

Never, never, never eat brains.... Ever!!!
Please refrain from eating brains from any animal. The problematic prion proteins in brain matter are not the same as proteins we get from meat and vegetables. The result down the road could be Cannibal Palsy or bovine spongiform encephalopathy which is basically the same thing as cannibal palsy. It could be many years before the damage shows up, but the your brain slowly becomes sponge-like and you suffer a profound dementia.

[weaselbasher]

09:11 AM on 02/26/2010

Tell that to a hungry zombie!

[WistfulD]

11:08 PM on 02/26/2010

Cannibal palsy is no longer a recognized condition (much like GRIDS is now AIDS). The disease is now known as what it was called in the country where it was discovered. It is called Kuru. And no, fellow commenter, it has nothing to do with zombie-esque cannibals. These people committed ritual cannibalism to honor their ancestors in the belief that if they ate their dead, they would retain their strengths and benefit the tribe. Past bizarre to us, but a far cry from headhunter crap and bad pulp novels.

[itsjustmeee]

12:47 AM on 02/26/2010

What about spam?

[BMcCue7]

08:18 AM on 02/26/2010

What about it?

It's mostly chopped chopped pork shoulder. I've eaten Spam my whole life. Nothing wrong with it.

Hey, even the President eats Spam.

[verticallychallenged]

05:33 PM on 02/27/2010

Spam, spam, eggs and spam?