SALISBURY, Md.- Before you go to bed tonight you may just want to check your pantry.
There may be food items you eat every day that are considered some of the grossest things out there.
Rodale Incorporated, an Emmaus, Pa.-based health food magazine publisher, lists the "15 Grossest Things You're Eating."
If you love bread, popcorn, and Mountain Dew, reading the label on these items is not enough because there are toxic chemicals in that stuff.
What is even worse is that marketers have figured out how to keep that unappetizing information off of the label.
If you use canned mushrooms, according to the list, the can is filled with maggots feasting on rotting foods. The Food and Drug Administration legally allows 19 maggots and 74 mites in a 3.5-ounce of mushrooms.
Bread and baked goods also made Rodale's list. The items contain a non-essential amino acid called L-cysteine, which is made from dissolved human hair (often from China) or duck feathers.
"That's gross," said Kim Nechay of Salisbury. "I thought by buying whole grain that I was doing the right thing but maybe I need to look at the organic products and see what else I can do to help feed my family a little better."
The amino acid is used as a commercial dough conditioner to improve the texture of breads and baked goods.
"I don't eat my own hair why would I want to eat hair from China for crying out loud?" said George Stroot.
Registered dietician, Nicole Acle said, she like some local shoppers was shocked but not surprised.
"There is a reason why the bread stays white," Acle said, "And there is a reason why it doesn't expire and stays fresh for two weeks, they (food manufacturers) put a lot of toxic carcinogens to keep it that way."
Some favorite snacks like popcorn also made the list.
"I didn't know that, should I take it back in the store?" asked Virginia Snead of Millsboro as she and her husband wrapped up their grocery shopping which included a box of uncooked bagged popcorn.
According to the publisher, an industrial non-stick chemical that falls under the perfluorinated chemical class is utilized to coat the inside of popcorn bags. A January 2012 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that the chemical could damage your immune system.
"It makes me kind of feel ill," said Snead. "If I knew it was that bad for us then we better stop eating that stuff."
The list goes on to name various types of dyed candies including jellybeans that have red dyes linked to ADHA and behavioral problems in kids.
And if you can't live without soda like Mountain Dew, the green stuff is laced with toxic flame retardant. Scientists link the chemical to memory loss and nerve disorders.
"Even when you think you are buying organic, are you really?" asked, Helen Campbell who was shopping in Salisbury. "That's the question that I have because they (food manufacturers) are not always honest."
If meat is on your grocery list then keep in mind that it could be infused with flesh-eating bacteria.
The journal, Clinical Infectious Diseases found that half of the grocery store meat tested had staph bacteria.
"That doesn't sound good at all," said Uliana Maslova, "It's not even something I even think about you know, I think it's chicken and chicken is usually good for you."
The next time you reach for that creamy white salad dressing think about this, some of that is filled with paint chemicals. Rodale points out that big food corporations add it to make dingy overly processed items appear whiter.
"How do you identify paint chemicals?" said Stroot. "They don't list it on the ingredient package so you know if it's there then they should list it."
Some foods that have raspberry flavoring listed on the package is actually what Rodale refers to as beaver anal gland juice which is used extensively in processed foods to enhance natural flavoring.
"If they would just put the correct labels and list what they have in the product, customers may buy them more, knowing what they are eating," said shopper, Angela Layfield.
Acle said food companies don't have to put everything on your food label since they actually use these strange ingredients to keep prices down.
"That's what the consumer is demanding which is what drives the market demand," Acle said.
If you are a fan of cranberry juice, that red color is actually the crushed abdomen of an African beetle-like insect.
And we all know sometimes eating your veggies is one of the ways to living a healthy lifestyle but many are sprayed with Glyphosate, the active chemical ingredient in the popular weed killer Roundup. It's sprayed to keep pests away and is linked to obesity, learning disabilities and birth defects.
"Why would they do that doesn't make any sense," said Stroot. "It's pretty gross but I'd probably read my label more closely next time."
If you're planning a barbeque anytime soon and beef patties are on the menu, you may want to pick another menu because that frozen meat has been through an ammonia gas bath.
If you want to throw shrimp on the grill, strike two; it could be tainted with chemicals used to clean filthy shrimp farm pens.
"You can't be too careful, not when you have kids," Nechay said, "You try to make sure they are eating the right things you can try to avoid things that you think might be questionable and look at the products that have the un-natural ingredients."
Dairy products aren't exactly safe from this list either.
If you love to drink milk, you could be chugging down sex hormones. Rodale published that today's cows produce double the amount of milk they did 40 years ago. It's all because of a genetically engineered synthetic hormone called recombinant bovine somatotropin or rBST.
Scientists link rBST hormones to prostate, breast and colon cancers. It's banned in other countries and although still legal in the United States, many diaries are moving away from it due to consumer demand.
"I think the government needs to take more control over what food eat and make the consumers be more aware of what's in their food," said Campbell.
If you're completely grossed out by now, not to worry, there are some alternatives to picking the right kinds of food. Acle said you could avoid buying a few of these foods by shopping organically, growing your own vegetables or by buying your meat directly from local farmers.
To see the complete list of the 15 Grossest Things You're Eating visit: http://www.rodale.com/gross-food
