McDonald's announced last week that, as of last August, is has stopped using ammonium hydroxide in the production of its hamburgers. MSNBC reports that the chemical, used in fertilizers, household cleaners and even homemade explosives, was also used to prepare McDonalds' hamburger meat.

And while the announcement is making headlines, you may (or may not) want to know about some other unusual chemicals being used in the production of some of our most-popular foods:

The International Business Times lists some other questionable chemicals showing up in our foods:

Propylene glycol: This chemical is very similar to ethylene glycol, a dangerous anti-freeze. This less-toxic cousin  prevents products from becoming too solid. Some ice creams have this  ingredient; otherwise you'd be eating ice.

Carmine: Commonly found in red food coloring, this chemical comes from crushed cochineal, small red beetles that burrow into cacti. Husks of the beetle are ground up and forms the basis for red coloring found in foods ranging from cranberry juice to M&Ms.

Shellac: Yes, this chemical used to finish wood products also gives some candies their sheen. It comes from the female Lac beetle.

L-cycsteine: This common dough enhancer comes from hair, feathers, hooves and bristles.

Lanolin (gum base): Next time you chew on gum, remember this. The goopiness of gum comes from lanolin, oils from sheep's wool that is also used  for vitamin D3 supplements.

Silicon dioxide: Nothing weird about eating sand, right? This anti-caking agent is found in many foods including shredded cheese and fast food chili.

So, what moved McDonald's to make the change in their hamburger production? In a statement posted on its website, McDonald's senior director of quality systems Todd Bacon wrote:

"At the beginning of 2011, we made a decision to discontinue the use of ammonia-treated beef in our hamburgers.  This product has been out of our supply chain since August of last year. This decision was a result of our efforts to align our global standards for how we source beef around the world."

The U.S. Agriculture Department classifies the chemical as "generally recognized as safe." McDonald's says they stopped using the chemical months ago and deny the move came after a public campaign against ammonium hydroxide by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver.

You can watch video of Jamie Oliver showing the process of using ammonium hydroxide on meat here:

The food industry uses ammonium hydroxide as an anti-microbial agent in meats, which allows McDonald's to use otherwise "inedible meat."

On his show, Oliver said of the meat treatment: "Basically we're taking a product that would be sold in the cheapest form for dogs and making it 'fit' for humans."

Even more disturbing, St. Louis-based dietician Sarah Prochaska told NBC affiliate KSDK that because ammonium hydroxide is considered part of the "component in a production procedure" by the USDA, consumers may not know when the chemical is in their food.

"It's a process, from what I understand, called 'mechanically separated meat' or 'meat product,'" Prochaska said.  "The only way to avoid it would be to choose fresher products, cook your meat at home, cook more meals at home."

one of my favorite local authors, Richard Gazala, started an interesting new blog. He mentioned me in his first post, so I thought I’d share the link with you. So far, Rich’s blog has been well worth the reading. http://www.rgazala.blogspot.com

• • Well it looks like we're at it again helping cats in need, we don't really have the finances it requires for 3 adult cats but 1 sort of buff colored female showed up a couple nights ago and has a collar with a bell on it, I talked softly to it last night and held out a hand for it to sniff and after a couple minutes of "buffy" rubbing her head on my hand she let me lightly stroke her head it appears that her collar is worn and may be too tight. We are planning to befriend it and earn its trust enough to get her the help she needs. Going to keep looking at posters for lost pets and see if any match this description. The odd thing and sort of scary creepy is that she's a bigger fluffier lighter colored version of my Mom's cat that died a couple years ago. She looks at Mom and I and meows in a way that melted our hearts and she sounds like a young kitten but she appears to be full grown. My Dad agreed we need to help it and also if possible try and track down whoever owned her previously so that the police and humane society can be notified that this sweet timid cat may have been abandoned. Cats in need have a habit of coming to our doorstep. We can't help but do what we can for them.

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  • The sweet kitty that showed up Mom calls Buffy cause of her light color, she's a beautiful cat and we've decided whatever it costs we're going to help her. We all decided that if we had to we could live on eggs, peanut butter and ramen noodles if it meant getting this cat the help she needs. I don't think it'll be that tight food wise but we've already decided that we have enough dry cat food and tuna in the house we can offer her some food and hopefully after talking softly and letting her get used to us we can get her to the humane society and have them help us determine whether or not she's got a microchip or not and determine better whether or not the collar is indeed too small. Buffy seems to be more afraid of men than women so Mom and I decided that at night whenever she comes around we're going to go out and just sit on the edge of the deck quietly talking to Buffy and let her get used to us that way. Dad said a 3rd cat won't cost any more to feed than if we had a dog and 2 cats so what's a 3rd cat. Dad usually rolls his eyes whenever a cat comes around but he said by now he's learned we don't get cats that come around for nothing usually so he'll let us do whatever we have to to help this one. He said he doesn't like the idea of a collar too tight even if its just begun to get too tight.

     

    We love animals too much not to help them.

    Mom's cat Cuddles was a stray found at 3 weeks of age and had health issues part of her life mostly due to having been separated from her mother too soon. My cat Rascal was a 6 week old stray that my brother found in the snow, his cat Buddy was a stray that started hanging around our home and we befriended her. Now it looks like we'll be helping another poor cat. Some might say we're too soft but if you heard and saw this sweet cat you'd understand.

    
    
    So now it looks like we'll have a Rascal, a Buddy and a Buffy.

I will be on an author’s panel at the Virginia Festival of the Book. You can check out all the details here. http://www.vabook.org/site12/participants/details.php?partID=175