Book ~ "This Is What You Just Put in Your Mouth? From Eggnog to Beef Jerky, the Surprising Secrets of What's Inside Everyday Products" (2015) Patrick Di Justo

From Goodreads ~ What do a cup of coffee and cockroach pheromone have in common? How is Fix-A-Flat like sugarless gum? Is a Slim Jim meat stick really alive? If I Can't Believe It's Not Butter isn't butter, what is it? 

 All of these pressing questions and more are answered in "This Is What You Just Put In Your Mouth?"

Based on his popular Wired magazine column "What's Inside", Patrick Di Justo takes a cold, hard, and incredibly funny look at the shocking, disgusting, and often dumbfounding ingredients found in everyday products, from Cool Whip and Tide Pods to Spam and Play-Doh. He also shares the madcap stories of his extensive research, including tracking down a reclusive condiment heir, partnering with a cop to get his hands on heroin and getting tight-lipped snack-food execs to talk. Along the way, he schools us on product histories, label decoding, and the highfalutin chemistry concepts behind everything from Midol to Hostess fruit pies. 

Packed with facts you're going to want to share immediately, this is infotainment at its best - and most fun! - which will have you giving your shampoo the side-eye and Doritos a double take and make you the know-it-all in line at the grocery store.

We all wonder what is in the food we eat and what we drink ... and this book helps to enlighten you with some common things.  The first part of the book covers food and drink including Cool Whip, A.1. Steak Sauce, Red Bull, Midol and Heroin.  The second part covers non-edible and non-drinkable products including Axe Deodorant, Febreze, Bausch & Lomb Renu Contact Lense Cleaner Solution and Tide Pods.  When you learn more about the ingredients, you may want to think twice about using some of the products.

Each item has a list of ingredients along with what exactly the ingredient is.  Some of it is pretty crazy including shark liver oil (it's in Preparation H in the U.S. version but not the Canadian version).  In some cases, there is a back story on how the author did his research.  The book is a collection of columns the author had written for Wired and was an interesting read.