There are a lot of fake foods out there. Whether as a result of imitation or genuine food fraud — a surprisingly big problem that the FDA says affects approximately 1% of the world's food — lookalike and taste-alike foods are everywhere. It's difficult to know these days whether what we're eating is the real deal, which isn't helped by the rise of technological advancements when it comes to food.
This has allowed a lot of false items to pass as the genuine article and end up in our kitchen. Fake foods have flourished in a market where people are having to make hard choices about where they spend their money. These foods are often way less expensive than the real version, and seem to offer the same taste at a reduced cost — before you get them home, and realize that they don't hold a candle to the real thing.
Fake foods are more widespread than you might think, too. Some of our favorite food products out there, from syrups to spices and extracts to dairy products, are as false as they come. We're here to expose the impostors that are hiding in plain sight, right in your pantry.
1. Crab sticks Imitation crab has to be one of the most common imitation foods out there — and yet, it's amazing how few people know that their crab sticks aren't the real deal. Imitation crab is typically made from Alaska pollock which is ground into a smooth paste.
Various ingredients are added to this paste to make it more crab-like, with higher-end products containing natural flavors that ca.