Foods You’ll Never Eat Again After You Know The Ingredients

9. Packaged Bread

** Company:** Grupo Bimbo and others ** Market Share:** $42.4 billion* ** Ingredient:** L-cysteine

Once upon a time, not too long ago, sliced bread was merely a distant hope. Individuals either baked their own loaves or relied on local bakeries for their daily bread. Fast forward to today, and it's a staple found in virtually every household. However, the stark contrast in shelf life between freshly baked bread and packaged bread is not merely coincidental.

The secret lies in L-cysteine, a preservative that extends the longevity of packaged bread. Despite being derived from a natural source, L-cysteine's origins are far from appetizing—it's extracted from human hair. Shockingly, one of the primary sources of this compound is hair salons in China. Hair clippings are collected, dissolved in acid to isolate the L-cysteine, and then shipped off to bakeries to be incorporated into bread recipes.