5 Weird food and drink urban legends

First it was stories from our childhoods -- never mix Poprocks and soda unless you want a real explosion in your stomach. Then it was the email forwards with frightening stories of the horrifying things (or body parts) people mistakenly ate. Now those urban legends are posted on Facebook and Twitter.

No matter how they're shared, urban legends involving food and drinks have always circulated. But rest assured that most are just that -- urban legends. Check out our roundup of five weird, gross and seriously disturbing food and drink urban legends.

Heroin or cyanide laced Halloween candy

While it's wise to carefully look over your kids' Halloween candy, rumors of children dying because deranged people go around spiking random Halloween candy with killers such as heroin or cyanide are false. Snopes parsed out the truth -- while a few kids really did die when they ingested either heroin or cyanide in their Halloween candy, it was actually the work of family members. Sometimes, fact really is scarier than fiction.

Cockroach eggs in fast food straws

Perhaps the only thing scarier than the amount of high fructose corn syrup in soda is ingesting a side of cockroach eggs with it. A few years ago, an email forward warned fast food goers to check their straws after a patron noticed his Sprite "tasted funny." After making the manager of the joint taste it -- yes, really -- they discovered the straw, along with others, was full of hundreds of cockroach eggs. Gross, but not true.

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Stomach explosions from Poprocks and soda

If you're old enough to remember Mikey, the little boy from the Life cereal commercials, you might also remember the urban legend detailing his unfortunate death. He supposedly ate a bag of Poprocks, and then slammed a soda and... bang! His stomach exploded. The rumor was so pervasive that the company eventually stopped selling the candy. It made a resurgence years later. And the good news? Mikey didn't die from a lethal Poprocks/soda combo, and neither will you.

Flesh eating bananas

Watch out! Your banana might be packed with more than just potassium. At least, that's what an old email would have you believe. Rumor circulated that Costa Rican bananas were infected with necrotizing fasciitis, also known as flesh eating bacteria that often results in limb amputation and sometimes death. Rest easy -- scientists say that the bacteria cannot graft itself to banana peels.

Severed body parts in food

This urban legend has come in many forms, most recently a severed finger in a woman's bowl of Wendy's chili. Generally, these stories are made up or are the work of someone trying to obtain a settlement. The Wendy's chili did in fact contain a severed finger, but it turns out it was planted by the purchaser, who was looking for some money. Perhaps desperate times call for desperate measures, but ewwwww.

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Tell us What is your favorite urban legend? Share it with us in the comments section below!

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