Revealed: Shocking list of popular foods and drinks readily available in U.S. grocery stores that are BANNED in other countries because their chemicals are deemed 'dangerous'

In Singapore, you can get sentenced to 15 years in prison and a $500,000 fine for using a chemical in food products that's common in frozen dinners

Mtn Dew and products used to keep carpets from catching on fire are made from the same chemical

A chemical found in Chex Mix is known to cause cancer in rats

If you enjoy snacks and drinks like Mtn Dew, Chex Mix, Hungry Man frozen dinners, or roughly 80 percent of all the packaged foods sold in your average, American grocery store, you may want to sit down before reading this.

Many of the chemicals found in America's most common foods are considered to be so unhealthy that they're actually ILLEGAL in other countries.



A new book on nutrition first highlighted by BuzzFeed lists six food additives that are found in a wide range of popular groceries sanctioned by the Food and Drug Administration, but foreign governments have determined to be too dangerous to allow their citizens to consume.

Extreme! Mt. Dew is made with a chemical that also is used to prevent carpets from catching on fire

Bubble gag: Bubble Yum contains a chemical that is known to cause cancer in rats

' Rich Food, Poor Food ' by Doctor Jayson Calton and Mira Calton, a certified nutritionist, features a list of what the authors call 'Banned Bad Boys' - a list of the ingredients, where they're banned and what caused governments to ban them.

One of the most common 'Bad Boys' is different variations of food coloring, which actually is made from petroleum and is found in everyday items like soda, sports drinks, mac and cheese, cake, candy and several other common, American products.

The chemicals used to make these different dyes have proven to cause various different cancers and can even potentially mutate healthy DNA.

Olestra is a fat substitute. It also causes a dramatic depletion of fat-soluble vitamins and carotenoids

Petroleum Loops: fruit loops are delicious - and made from a product that's made out of the same stuff that makes gasoline

European countries like Norway, Finland, France and Austria all have banned at least one variation of petroleum-containing food coloring.

Another common additive banned in other countries but allowed in the U.S. is Olestra, which essentially is a fat substitute found in products that traditionally have actual fat.

For example, low-fat potato chips like Ruffles Lite, Lays Wow and Pringles fat-free chips all contain Olestra - which is shown to cause the depletion of fat-soluble vitamins. Different brands of fat-free ice cream and mayonnaise at one time also contain the chemical.



Olestra has been banned in several countries, including the United Kingdom and Canada.

In 2003, the FDA lifted a requirement forcing companies that use Olestra in their products to include a label warning consumers that the food their eating could cause 'cramps and diarrhea,' despite the fact that the agency received more than 20,000 reports of gastrointestinal complaints among olestra eaters.

Do you like citrus drinks, like Mt. Dew, Squirt or Fresca? Then you also like brominated vegetable oil, which is banned in more than 100 countries because it has been linked to basically every form of thyroid disease - from cancer to autoimmune diseases - known to man.

In Singapore you can get up to fifteen years in prison and penalized nearly half a million dollars in fines for using an ingredient found in common U.S. bread products

Hungry? 1 1/2 pounds of food (and chemicals used to make bleach and rubber yoga mats)

Other products made from bromine: chemicals used to keep carpets from catching on fire and for disinfecting swimming pools.

Other food products made from brominated vegetable oil include New York brand flatbreads, bagel chips, Baja Burrito wraps and other bread products.

Of brominated vegetable oil, the FDA says it is approved 'for flavoring oils used in fruit-flavored beverages, for which any applicable standards of identity do not preclude such use, in an amount not to exceed 15 parts per million in the finished beverage.'



Then there's things like Hungry Man frozen dinners, which will fill you up - with azodicarbonamide, a chemical used make things like bleach and rubber yoga mats.

Most frozen potato and bread products - like different varieties of McCain brand french fries - contain the chemical, as well as several store brand bread products.



Azodicarbonamide is known to induce asthma, and has been banned in Australia, the U.K. and most other European countries. If you were to use it as a food ingredient in Singapore, you could face up to 15 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.

According to the FDA, Azodicarbonamide is 'approved to be a bleaching agent in cereal flour' and is 'permitted for direct addition to food for human consumption.'



The final chemicals on the list - butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) - are found in everyday products like Post, Kellogs and Quaker brand cereals, as well as Diamond Nuts, Chex Mix and gum brands like Wrigley's, Trident, Bazooka and Bubble Yum.