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Most people enjoy a scoop of delicious ice cream. But did you know that the popular dessert used to contain anal secretions from beavers? If you think that’s stomach-turning, check out these other weird or even deadly ingredients found in common food products. Baguettes with a side of opium Just last March, shoppers in France were warned against purchasing bread that contained a dose of opium. Health officials were puzzled about the unexplained presence of the drugs in poppy seed baguettes and ready-made sandwiches made from poppy seed bread. Poppy seeds don’t usually contain opiates and government investigators posit that...

Castoreum is a yellowish, strong-smelling secretion that comes from the castor sacs found near the base of a beaver’s tail. It’s an FDA-approved food additive, and hey, you can now get whiskey that’s flavored with the stuff. That knowledge comes courtesy of this piece from Food & Wine’s Mike Pomranz, which spotlights a nice little beaver musk whiskey made by Tamworth Distilling of New Hampshire. Fear not, castoreum is an FDA-approved food additive. That’s actually how this spirit came about. Tamworth’s team was looking to develop a new spirit, and in hopes of securing a speedy all-clear from the Alcohol...

For four years, photographer Louis-Marie Preau would lie motionless underwater for hours at a time to get this perfect shot of a Eurasian beaver carrying a branch back to its lodge. Equally as impressive as Preau's efforts were the efforts to pull these delightful creatures back from near extinction. Via bioGraphic: Prized for both their fur and their castoreum—a scent-gland secretion once believed to cure everything from headaches to hysteria, Eurasian beavers were nearly hunted to extinction by the middle of the 19th century. In France, the species (Castor fiber) was nearly wiped out entirely, with the exception of a...

We're sorry in advance if we've just ruined your appetite. But, the rumors are true: There might be small amounts of beaver butt goo in some of our favorite gummy candies, ice creams, sodas and baked goods. Don't worry though, it's safe. For the past 80 years, we've been using the "brown slime" emitted from beavers as a way to add vanilla, strawberry and raspberry flavors to some of our favorite foods. How exactly does this work? Beavers emit the chemical compound castoreum from their castor sacs. The sacs are located under the animal's tail and are secreted when they...