25 Banned Foods Everyone Needs To Know About

These are 25 banned foods everyone needs to know about for various reasons. Sometimes it’s a simple thing, sometimes not.

Kinder Eggs

There’s nothing wrong with hiding something in an egg. It’s hiding something that’s non-edible in a candy egg which makes it easy to guess why this is a banned food.

Four Loko

Technically this is still available, but not in the original version. Whoever the genius was that combined caffeine and alcohol has probably received plenty of praise, but also plenty of grief.

Beluga Caviar

Sometimes a banned food isn’t taken off the market because it’s dangerous. In this case, the overfishing of beluga sturgeon made it necessary to discontinue the use of this as a food.

Silver Dragees

How many people know what these actually are? These silver sprinkles are a banned food since they are technically not food, just a decoration.

Epoisses Cheese

There are forms of French cheese sold in the US, but if you want the real deal it’s time to book a flight. The fact is that it’s made from raw, unpasteurized milk and is under 60 days old.

Foie Gras

Surprisingly, this is still available in parts of the country, even if it’s banned or frowned on in other states. Force-feeding ducks and geese is seen as animal abuse, especially since the pain of an enlarged liver sounds horrible.

Flamin’ Hot Cheetos

Many states have banned these red hot treats since they have little to no nutritional value. Honestly, they’re not banned entirely, but they don’t do much except raise a person’s sodium.

Swans

Yeah, you read that correctly. Swans are still legal to consume in some parts of the country, but they’re illegal to hunt throughout most of America.

Sassafras Oil

This oil was placed on the list of banned foods a while back when it was discovered that it’s a carcinogen, or a potential one at least. It’s not banned where it occurs naturally.

Bushmeat

The reason for this type of food being on the banned foods list has to do with the fact that some of the wildlife that falls under this label is endangered. Importing this meat to the USA is highly illegal.

Junk Food

So, no, junk food has not been banned throughout America. However several states in the country and Canada have banned junk food in schools, so it does count.

Queen Conch

Like many foods throughout the years, this one has been banned since it leads to overfishing. It’s been surmised that the USA is responsible for the mass consumption of this mollusk.

Sea Turtles

Despite being on the endangered list this animal is still legally hunted in several countries. But the USA is no longer one of them.

Mont D’Or

Being made with unpasteurized milk means this type of cheese cannot be sold in the USA. If you fancy a trip to France though, you might get a chance.

Lazy Cakes

If you know anything about melatonin then you’ll know why putting it in a food is not a good idea unless it’s specifically designed to aid in sleep. After a few kids were hospitalized after eating these things they did get banned by a state or two.

Horse Meat

While it’s not technically banned it might as well be since most people in America frown on eating horses. While it’s legal overseas, here it’s almost impossible unless one wishes to jump through the legal hoops.

Black Pudding

This dish is still popular in England, but it’s illegal to bring this stuff into the US. Anything made with sheep lungs sounds kind of dodgy.

Mirabelle Plums

There’s nothing wrong or harmful about these plums. It’s just that they’ve become a protected food and are no longer legal to ship to the states.

Bird’s Nest Soup

Some of the stuff in Asia is kind of odd considering what it’s made from. The USA won’t be hosting this dish anytime soon and some people are likely glad since the solidified saliva of swiftlets doesn’t sound that great.

Camembert

Exotic cheeses that have cool-sounding names don’t appear to make it to the USA that often, at least not in their original forms. The FDA is funny like that.

Haggis

Remember why black pudding isn’t allowed in the USA? The same reason applies when it comes to this Scottish dish since the FDA said “No” back in the 70s.

Absinthe

Oh, we can buy absinthe in America, but only in its legalized form. Without the chemical known as thujone it’s legal, but the original form is still illegal in the states.

Japanese Pufferfish

This dish is served in America, but only rarely. The toxins that can damage or kill people and reside in this fish are dangerous if one isn’t trained well enough to to carve it up.

Ackee

This South African fruit is a favorite over on its native continent. But in the USA it’s only acceptable in a canned or processed form.

Casu Marzu

It’s not so much that this cheese is made from sheep’s milk, it’s the fact that it has live maggots crawling around in it. In Italy this is considered good eating, but in the USA the FDA isn’t about to give this a green light.

Shark Fins

One should be able to guess why this is banned. Not only does it deprive a shark of its fin, but many times they’re tossed back into the sea, where they’re unable to survive without a vital part of their anatomy.