# Food myths **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 2, 2017, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-myths/781225 "2017-03-02T18:18:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-myths/781225/81 "2017-03-07T01:56:03Z")
Eating uncooked hot dogs will kill you. Or give you a dangerous dose of food poisoning. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-myths/781225/82 "2017-03-07T02:42:26Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > Eating uncooked hot dogs will kill you. Or give you a dangerous dose of food poisoning. It is possible get Listeria from uncooked hot dogs. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-myths/781225/83 "2017-03-07T03:34:09Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > It is possible get Listeria from uncooked hot dogs. Or from bologna, but in both cases, it’s not a typical thing by any means. One time there was a recall of Winn-Dixie bologna because of possible Listeria contamination. I had to take back an unopened one-pound package and the few slices left in another package for a refund. I guess my packages weren’t bad. If eating unheated hot dogs out of the package was dangerous, I wouldn’t have made it out of elementary school. They were my favorite! ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-myths/781225/84 "2017-03-07T03:35:14Z")
I keep hearing people say that green bell peppers are non-poisonous and taste good. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-myths/781225/85 "2017-03-07T05:12:35Z")
> [@kath94](#): > > My husband STILL says this, although I have to believe he’s being sarcastic. Where do his testicles rank, size-wise, with past boyfriends? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-myths/781225/86 "2017-03-07T06:33:53Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > It is possible get Listeria from uncooked hot dogs. Or any deli meats. It’s not something I’d worry about. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-myths/781225/87 "2017-03-07T07:44:30Z")
And don’t open the microwave door as soon as it turns off. There are still microwaves bouncing around inside, and if they escape through the open door they can sterilize you. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-myths/781225/88 "2017-03-07T10:36:40Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > I get all of this except the mayo. I don’t eat it myself so never paid that much attention, but isn’t it lethal if it goes bad? Of course, that’s probably the myth part. I wanted to mention that we in foodservice can get bulk mayonnaise from Sysco in two packaging formats: sealed 30-pound buckets, or a cardboard box lined with a plastic bag containing the 30# of mayo, and the plastic bag is not sealed. Both are delivered unrefrigerated, and can be stored unrefrigerated. The bucket packaging is preferred, because hey, free buckets, and it’s easier to scrape the last of the mayo out of a bucket than to squeeze it out of a big plastic bag. The “unrefrigerated” part only becomes a hassle when we end up with a substitute driver who delivers it directly to the kitchen, and we’re left to pack 150 pounds of mayonnaise back down to the downstairs walk-in cooler that the driver passed on his way to the elevator. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-myths/781225/89 "2017-03-07T17:13:04Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > “Beer tastes good.” This is, indeed, a myth. The fact is that “Beer tastes **AWESOME**.”😛 ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-myths/781225/90 "2017-03-07T17:40:16Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > I haven’t heard it in a long time, but there were some in my grandparents’ generation who believed swallowing chewing gum would lead to appendicitis. No, it’s biting your fingernails and swallowing them that gives you appendicitis. In fact, when doctors remove an inflamed appendix, they shake it. If it rattles like maracas, then the doctor knows it was fingernails that caused the problem, and not something else. Glad to clear that up. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-myths/781225/91 "2017-03-07T18:06:33Z")
Mom said drinking milk while eating fish would give you a terrible stomach problem and maybe kill you, ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-myths/781225/92 "2017-03-07T18:12:29Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > You’ve never had them prepared properly; slow cook for a goodly amount of time with some kinda pork product. > > Or, throw in some corn for succotash. > > Mmmmmm…limas. > [@gnoitall](#): > > This is, indeed, a myth. The fact is that “Beer tastes **AWESOME**.”😛 These two posts demonstrate how persistent these food myths can be. Lima beans taste like shit, and beer tastes worse than lima beans. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-myths/781225/93 "2017-03-07T19:11:47Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > These two posts demonstrate how persistent these food myths can be. Lima beans taste like shit, and beer tastes worse than lima beans. Make you a deal: You have some limas from my favorite fish restaurant, and I’ll try anything (non-spicy–tummy issues) you love that I hate (think sauerkraut, Brussel sprouts, cauliflower). Or, we can just sit around and disparage beer (not a fan, either). ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-myths/781225/94 "2017-03-07T19:15:04Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > The one I have is pretty bizarre; that if you give food to someone who hasn’t eaten in a while and don’t give them anything to drink, it will probably kill them. My mom was fond of this idea, and even claimed a relative inadvertantly killed someone this way. Another one with a tiny grain of truth, but that got really distorted along the way. [Refeeding Syndrome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refeeding_syndrome) is a condition that happens when people who have been seriously starved or malnourished start being fed. Apparently it causes metabolic disturbances that can cause fatal cardiac arrythmias. But it’s not “a while”- it’s like Bataan Death March or Nazi concentration camp type starvation that causes it. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-myths/781225/95 "2017-03-08T02:20:35Z")
“Chocolate milk has no nutritional value whatsoever, because although the milk itself contains calcium, there is something in the chocolate that completely neutralizes the calcium. Therefore, chocolate milk is purely bad for everybody. Unlike regular milk.” ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-myths/781225/96 "2017-03-08T02:26:47Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Another one with a tiny grain of truth, but that got really distorted along the way. > > [Refeeding Syndrome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refeeding_syndrome) is a condition that happens when people who have been seriously starved or malnourished start being fed. Apparently it causes metabolic disturbances that can cause fatal cardiac arrythmias. > > But it’s not “a while”- it’s like Bataan Death March or Nazi concentration camp type starvation that causes it. Which makes me think of [“Rabbit Starvation.”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_poisoning) ---
**Author:** ![TYphoonSignal8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e99b99/32.png) [@TYphoonSignal8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TYphoonSignal8)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-myths/781225/97 "2017-03-08T04:25:09Z")
Quite seriously, I was surprised yesterday to read that there is no science to support the contention that bananas solve magnesium deficiencies. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-myths/781225/98 "2017-03-08T04:55:57Z")
> [@DinoR](#): > > If food has that little organic certification on it that means no pesticides were used growing it. There’s actually a list of approved natural pesticides for the US certification. Some of that list, like Rotenone and Azadirachtin, are worse than most of their non-naturally occurring competitors. To add to that, the notion that organic foods are somehow more nutritious and “healthy” than their conventionally grown counterparts. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-myths/781225/99 "2017-03-08T09:30:46Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > The problem with mayonnaise (one of them, at least) is people contaminate the jar by sticking their utensil into it, spreading it on something, then sticking that same utensil back in the jar with crumbs and shit still on it. Yeah, I’m reasonably sure if your utensil has shit on it you shouldn’t put it in any jars :smack: ---
**Author:** ![tim-n-va](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim-n-va/32/3001_2.png) [@tim-n-va](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim-n-va)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-myths/781225/100 "2017-03-09T04:08:23Z")
5 second rule is not a myth although it is misunderstood. It applies to social judgement not to sanitation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-myths/781225.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-myths/781225.md?page=6)