9 Forbidden Foods That Are Banned in the State of California

When it comes to what we eat, Idahoans are fairly adventurous. After all, Eagle is home to the self proclaimed “Largest Rocky Mountain Oyster Feed in the World.” 

If you’re new to town and are thinking to yourself, “I’d very much like to check that out this year because I LOVE seafood” you’re going to be really disappointed. Rocky Mountain Oysters aren’t seafood. They’re deep fried testicles, usually from bulls. Sometimes they’re from sheep or pigs. They’re skinned, dipped in a mixture of flour, salt, pepper and other spices and then fried. We’re told they taste like venison or finger steaks. Personally, we haven’t worked up the courage to try them yet. 

Foods You Won’t Find on the Menu in Idaho or California

We think it’s sort of wild that Stacker was able to put together a fairly long list of foods that we can easily grab off the shelves at Albertsons or WinCo that are banned in other countries. Some of them are products that we consume every day. 

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American Frosted Flakes are banned in Japan and the European Union because of a flavor enhancer called BHT that could be a potential carcinogen. It's illegal to sell products containing BHT in those countries. 

Gatorade containing Yellow 5 and Yellow 6 is banned in Norway and Austria. In the European Union, they’re not to be served to infants and kids and must carry a warning label advising parents that the dyes could cause adverse effects in kids. 

Those are just two of the almost 30 foods Stacker had on their list. On the flip side, the FDA does have a list of foods and ingredients banned here in Idaho, California and throughout the rest of the United States. Some of them are on the list because they pose a legitimate danger to American consumers. Others are banned because the animal they come from is endangered. 

Here’s a look at some of those “forbidden foods.”