At least that's what a viral food test video on the Internet claims, which is widely distributed and which is why we received many inquiries. It's this video:

Below we look at each food test and describe whether the claims are true, false or misleading.

Test 1: The Burning Cheese

Screenshot: mimikama.org - Food - Test
Screenshot: mimikama.org

The claim:
Industrially processed cheese that contains chemicals burns with difficulty, while natural cheese does not char but just melts.

The fact check:
already existed in 2014 and the claim that you can recognize “fake cheese” by lighting it on fire and observing the reaction.
But what it actually proves is how little knowledge we actually have about our food.

It may surprise many, but processed cheese is actually not a naturally occurring natural product! The “bad” component is emulsifying salt , which helps to bind fats, proteins and water in the cheese so that it melts “properly” and does not dissolve into oils and milk proteins.
The same principle is used to make fondue cheese, which is supposed to melt slowly.

Processed cheese is not intended to be melted over a direct, open flame, so depending on its composition, it will sometimes melt more or less over an open flame (although both types of cheese are charred in the video).
In a video, food scientists from Kraft also explained the properties of processed cheese:

The claim is therefore false .

Test 2: The rice mixed with plastic

Screenshot: mimikama.org
Screenshot: mimikama.org

The claim:
Rice is mixed with plastic rice grains to increase profits. This can be seen when you heat the rice; the plastic grains become transparent.

The fact check:
The rumor that rice is (partly) made of plastic has been circulating since 2011, we reported on this hoax .
If there's one thing we know about plastic, it's this: it stinks and turns black when you set it on fire.
But these grains become transparent! This is because different types of rice behave differently when heated. A pack does not always contain 100% of a certain type of rice, but other types of rice are often mixed in, which is why, for example, it is a rule that packs of basmati rice not contain more than 7% foreign rice .

So what we see here is not plastic rice, but a different type of rice that was included in the package and that becomes transparent at lower temperatures than the rest of the rice.

The claim is therefore false .

Test 3: Baby food contains ground stones

Screenshot: mimikama.org
Screenshot: mimikama.org

The claim:
Baby food contains ground stones that are advertised as fortified calcium.

The fact check:
Calcium is an important component of a healthy diet and helps strengthen bones. However, calcium is not magnetic, so what exactly is being attracted to the magnet in the video?

The answer is obvious: it is iron!
Iron is found in many And this iron, which is only absorbed by the body in part, is also magnetic. Iron is even more important for baby's bone formation.

The website “Scientific American” describes very well in an experiment how you can examine your own breakfast for iron using a strong magnet.
So it's not ground stones, but iron, which occurs naturally in many healthy foods.

The claim is therefore false .

Test 4: The baked pills

Screenshot: mimikama.org
Screenshot: mimikama.org

The claim:
Vitamin pills containing synthetic supplements “bubble up” when baked, natural supplements do not behave this way.

The fact check:
In the video you only see a collection of various pills, although it is unknown which pills these are and at what temperature they were baked, and it is also unclear why synthetic supplements of all things should bubble up.

In principle, almost all vitamin tablets and pills consist of synthetically produced isolated nutrients, as it would simply be too expensive and inefficient to extract the vitamins that such a pill should contain from natural foods. Whether or not a pill bubbles when baked depends on the contents and temperature, not whether it is artificial (as in most cases) or natural.

The easiest way to find out the contents of a supplement pill is still to look at the packaging!
Natural supplements typically include a list of food sources or are labeled as 100% plant or animal based, while synthetic ingredients for vitamin C, for example, list chemical names such as “ascorbic acid” as an ingredient.

The claim cannot be verified because it is not known which pills are involved, nor is the baking temperature specified.

Test 5: The glue in the meat

Screenshot: mimikama.org
Screenshot: mimikama.org

The claim:
Meat contains adhesives to hold loose pieces of meat together.

The fact check:
In fact, so-called thrombin is used in the meat industry to “glue” several pieces of meat together and make them appear as a whole piece of meat.
In principle, this is a consumer deception, which already brought Swedish politicians and consumer groups to the barricades in 2011 when thrombin was approved by the EU as a food additive.

By the way, the enzyme thrombin is not synthetic, but is obtained from the blood of pigs or cattle and used together with fibrinogen, a protein that is also obtained from the blood of these animals, to bind pieces of meat or fish. not considered a safety concern under EU regulations because it comes from parts of animals intended for human consumption.

This claim is true . The adhesive is called thrombin, is obtained from pig or cattle blood and is not considered harmful.

Test 6: The foamy ice cream

Screenshot: mimikama.org
Screenshot: mimikama.org

The claim:
Ice cream that foams when lemon juice is sprinkled on it contains detergent

The Fact Check:
In recent years, there have actually been cases in India of detergent being added to ice cream to make it look better. Several Indian sites also reported on it .
Unfortunately, the video does not show what kind of ice cream it is, so it cannot be verified whether it is actually “detergent ice cream” or whether another additive in the ice cream is causing the foaming.
However, one can confidently say that a company in this country that adds detergent to its ice cream cannot say “food inspection” as quickly as its company is closed.

The claim cannot be verified , although there are such cases in India; in this country, such ice cream is more than unlikely due to the strict food controls.

Test 7: The milk with rice water

Screenshot: mimikama.org
Screenshot: mimikama.org

The claim:
If you mix algae in milk, it turns blue if the milk also contains rice water.

The fact check:
There is milk. There is rice water (which is touted by many as a “beauty secret” because it contains many of the ingredients that the rice released into the water when it was cooked). And there is also rice milk , which is appreciated by vegans and allergy sufferers because it is gluten-free.

Unfortunately, the video does not mention which milk (cow's milk, goat's milk, rice milk, etc.) was tested, nor what type of algae was used and whether it was purely natural or processed industrially, so that claim cannot be verified without great effort.

The claim cannot be verified because too many factors are unclear.

Test 8: The colored potato

Screenshot: mimikama.org
Screenshot: mimikama.org

The claim:
Older products are dyed to look better, these dyes can be washed off with oil and water.

The fact check:
In fact, at least in the USA, retailers are allowed to “beautify” sweet potatoes with harmless food coloring; the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) even has a guideline , which states that this coloring must be safe and should not be used for this purpose may be used to hide damage or inferiority.

The claim is true . At least in the USA this is allowed, but not in order to be able to sell inferior or defective potatoes.

Test 9: The floating coffee

Screenshot: mimikama.org
Screenshot: mimikama.org

The claim:
Coffee with additives floats in water, while pure coffee sinks to the bottom of a glass of water.

The fact check:
The video does not reveal which additives it is supposed to be.
In fact, with different types of coffee you can observe that some float while others sink. But is this due to ominous additives?

The behavior of ground coffee does not depend on additives, but on several other factors . The degree of roasting of the coffee is an important factor: the more strongly the coffee beans were previously roasted, the less density they have and are more likely to float or float in the water. The age of the coffee also plays a role, as freshly roasted beans contain even more gas.

In the end, there are several factors that determine whether the coffee powder floats or sinks, although the hardness of the water has not even been taken into account, which can also have an influence.
In any case, the test is not proof of ominous ingredients, as the same coffee can float one day and sink a few days later.

The claim is false . Many factors influence the density of coffee, but unknown additives are not among them.

Test 10: The chalk salt

Screenshot: mimikama.org
Screenshot: mimikama.org

The claim:
False salt contains chalk and clouds the water, while pure salt dissolves.

The fact check:
The video only shows how the salt is poured into the first glass and turns the water cloudy, in the second glass you only see clear water. Some factors are missing, such as how much salt was poured in, how long the second jar has been sitting, and what salt was used.

If you pour normal table salt into a glass of water, the water will initially become cloudy because the still undissolved salt particles float in the water until after a while they have dissolved and the water looks pure again.

The rumor about “fake salt” has a true background, because in 2015 the police confiscated 20,000 tons of industrial salt in China, which were sold to restaurants and supermarkets as table salt.
In this country, the same applies as in Test 6: Food inspectors would quickly raise the alarm if a company sold industrial salt as table salt.

The claim is false . Normal table salt always turns the water cloudy due to the floating, not yet dissolved salt particles; the water only becomes clear again after a while.

Test 11: The dyed peas

Screenshot: mimikama.org
Screenshot: mimikama.org

The claim:
Old peas become colored, which could be seen by cooking the peas as some will no longer be green.

The fact check:
Green peas are no longer so green when dried, but turn yellowish .
This no longer looks quite as attractive to the consumer, and the frozen peas in the supermarket always look much greener and fresher. Were there any dyes added?

The secret to the fresh appearance of frozen peas is not additives or coloring, but rather the prior blanching of the peas , which enhances and preserves the natural coloring.

When you cook peas, you should make sure that the water is not too hot, the peas are only just covered with water and you only let them simmer
three minutes The reason: If they are cooked too long and too hot, they not only lose valuable vitamins, but also their natural coloring: they turn yellow!

The video didn't say how long the peas were cooked or how hot the water was, but it's safe to assume that they were simply cooked too long, because then each pea turns yellow and loses its heat-sensitive pigment into the water.

The claim is false . If cooked for too long, peas lose their heat-sensitive, natural coloring.

Test 12: The Burning Spice

Screenshot: mimikama.org
Screenshot: mimikama.org

The claim:
Pure spices burn and ignite over a flame, impure spices do not.

The fact check:
The video doesn't say which spice it is, but you can see very briefly that the bottle is labeled "Turmeric", in German: turmeric.
The spice not only has medicinal uses, but also gives curry its typical golden yellow color .

However, the question is now open as to what type of contamination this should be? Is the non-burning turmeric perhaps older or wetter? In addition, not every spice burns, but that does not mean that these spices are then contaminated.

The statement is therefore very general and vague, and it certainly cannot be applied to all spices. It is doubtful whether the flame test actually detects contamination in turmeric.

The claim cannot be verified . The video talks about spices in general, but the burning spice is only turmeric, although there are several factors that can affect flammability.

Test 13: The diluted honey

Screenshot: mimikama.org
Screenshot: mimikama.org

The claim:
Diluted honey containing water will extinguish the flame of a candle wick dipped in it before lighting.

The fact check:
You can actually use it to test whether honey may contain water. In the EU it is mandatory to label the jars which additional ingredients honey contains, while in the USA, for example, things are different, which is why such a test makes sense, at least in part.

Partly just because there are many ways to "stretch" honey, so the candle test may come back positive for a honey, but there are other agents in it that cannot be detected by this test.

The claim is true . In fact, water can be detected in honey, but in the EU this is subject to labeling.

Test 14: The stain tea

Screenshot: mimikama.org
Screenshot: mimikama.org

The claim:
Impure tea can be recognized by stains on a coffee filter, pure tea does not produce stains.

The fact check:
Tea basically always causes stains, but it also depends on the brand of tea. Black tea, for example, creates annoying stains very quickly because of the tannin it contains, while green tea hardly creates any stains.

What is missing from the video is the statement about which type or types of tea it is in order to be able to verify the test. The tea in the video could be green tea, but neither the brand nor the type of leaf is known. For example, green tea could have been used in both tests, with one of the teas using a different tea blend than the other brand.

The claim is false .

Test 15: The pink sugar

Screenshot: mimikama.org
Screenshot: mimikama.org

The claim:
Sugar in melted butter turns pink if the butter contains oil.

The fact check:
A few points are also open here, namely which oil the test is supposed to detect and what type of sugar was used.
For example, there is olive oil butter, which you can tell from the name that it recognizes oil. Many people also add oil when frying the butter in the pan so that the butter does not melt too quickly.

However, a similar test is on an Indian site to prove whether vanaspati or margarine can be detected in butter.
However, hydrochloric acid is also used in the experimental setup, which is added in equal parts to the melted butter. If you then add sugar to this mixture, the lower part of it turns pink, as in the video, if the butter contains vanaspati or margarine.

The claim is half-true . You probably won't be able to detect oil in butter, but you will be able to detect vanaspati or margarine if you also add concentrated hydrochloric acid to the melted butter.

Test 16: The wax apple

Screenshot: mimikama.org
Screenshot: mimikama.org

The claim:
Hot water removes the wax layer from apples

The Fact Check:
In fact, fruit growing is allowed , this helps ensure the fruit stays fresh and free from pest infestation during storage, transportation and retail.

In Germany , however, the artificial growth of apples is prohibited , but is permitted in other EU countries and third countries. Import into Germany is permitted if the method is harmless to health in the country of origin. However, these apples must be labeled.

This claim is half-true , as in the US apples are actually allowed to be covered with artificial wax.

Conclusion

The video contains mostly false or misleading statements, only a few claims are true.

Many of the tests concern food in China , India and partly in the USA ; they can hardly be applied to European food at all.

In addition, some of the statements are too imprecise to be truly verifiable, and other statements such as “glue” in the flesh seem more off-putting than they actually are.


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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )