Hot Pockets' scary ingredient list, illustrated

An illustrated poster of Hot Pockets ingredients could turn you off these microwavable products for good.

Mon, Feb 22 2010 at 2:15 PM EST

Photo: Belldog/Flickr

Do partially hydrogenated soybean oil and corn syrup solids make you drool — especially when packed together with imitation mozzarella cheese and artificial butter flavor — and spiked with distilled monoglycerides and L-Cysteine hydrochloride? You've been eating all that — if you've been nibbling Hot Pockets.

These overpackaged and overprocessed edible food-like products are already avoided by many health-conscious foodies. But even the average factory-farmed cheeseburger-eating Joe might think twice about buying Hot Pockets if the product’s ingredient list was on the front of its packaging.

Ham and Cheese Hot Pockets ingredients poster by Justin Perricone

That’s what the poster above by freelance graphic designer Justin Perricone illustrates (via Boing Boing). The poster is basically a prettily designed list of ingredients in a Ham & Cheese Hot Pocket!

According to Boing Boing, this poster’s the first in a series — so follow Justin’s blog for more well-illustrated poster-sized motivations to eat better. How much would America’s diet change if ingredient lists of popular processed products had to be put on the front of the packaging — instead of squished on the back in small print?

Grossed out by the ingredient list — but still kind of craving Hot Pockets despite your better green instincts? Try baking homemade hot pockets! eHow has a simple recipe for homemade hot pockets with just 10 ingredients (plus water) — and if you opt for organic ingredients plus local, sustainably produced ham and cheese, you’ll have yummier, healthier fresh-baked, feel-good snacks.

Image courtesy of Justin Perricone

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OverlyProcessed 04/20/2012 18:23 PM

I just finished 2 and ate slices of "real cheese" on the side.. do i feel the poison now trying to be digested? Yes! do i want to stop? yes! its just convenient.. and i do think they're good even though having the knowledge of how unhealthy they really are..

PocketMaster 02/23/2012 13:12 PM

I just finished three of them and boy were they tasty! Do I care how unhealthy it is? nope

MrTT 02/23/2012 07:15 AM

correction on the ingredient list of imitation cheese.
It needs to be noted that the main "flavoring" is sugar. such that typically its 25% sugar by weight

MrTT 02/23/2012 07:07 AM

Also for the curious.
Imitation cheese is made by mixing margarine (hydrolized vegetable oil), calcium, salt, and casein (milk protein which binds to calcium in cheese to render it solid) with edible acid like lactic acid (stuff your muscles generate when you excercise) and coloring and flavoring.

MrTT 02/23/2012 06:57 AM

Niacin = Vitamin B3
Riboflavin = Vitamin B2
etc.

Its not the "scary sounding unnatural chemicals" that are the problem, heck cyanide is all natural poison found in some foods. The reason to avoid hot pockets is because they have ridiculous amounts of fat, calories, salt, etc for their size...

Also their fake cheese tastes gross.

d-kruft1 01/28/2012 07:33 AM

After reading this article, I felt sick. Admitingly, I do buy some
packaged food like a frozen family meal just for the convenience,
but I don't read the ingrediants. This is a nightmare, just the stuff that makes people fat and allergy prone. Stay away from this crap!

Danielle 01/10/2012 13:15 PM

I had my first hot pocket (well, lean pocket) ever... and the amount of chemicals in these things induced an ocular migraine! Vertigo, headache, vision lost, chemical taste in my mouth.... the same type of headache that artificial sweeteners (also chemicals...) do. Gross!

Jim 03/28/2011 14:05 PM

I work long hours, and I commute 3 hours round trip a day. Who has time to cook. People at work make fun of me, but I eat hot pockets like they are going out of business. I've eaten four already today and it's only 2:05 p.m. :)

Curious as to how harmful they will be for me in the long run.

Rawr 09/21/2010 08:02 AM

Why are people hating on hot pockets? They're awesome :)

Danielle 04/27/2010 22:51 PM

I'm so glad I never ate those! I never got to because my mom didn't like it.

X 03/21/2010 13:58 PM

A lot of the stuff that they use in the picture to scare you like "Niacin," and "Thiamin," and "Beta Carotene" are actually required parts of your diet, you can't live without them. The government actually requires that processed breads be fortified with them.

I'm not saying Hot Pockets are good for you, but I hate it when people use scienc-y sounding names to scare people. "Casein," for example, is just hot spice. Anything you eat that is spicy has it. The varying levels of "hot" in.... More

Nutritionist 11/05/2010 18:49 PM

Casein is not hot spice! You're thinking of caspicum. Casein is milk protein!!!

Guest 06/28/2010 15:16 PM

Exactly. I looked at that poster and shrugged. Who cares if it's "artificial" butter? What do you think artificial butter is? Made out of plastic? No, it's just a different ingredient that tastes similar to butter.

Many of those big scary words could very well be natural ingredients--people simply don't know what they are. Even if they're not natural, so what? That doesn't make it bad for you. Everyone has this idea that "processed" food is terrible for you. Can anyone explain,.... More

411 04/08/2010 01:23 AM

"Casein" is NOT a hot spice. I don't know where you got that information from, but it's actually a protein. It accounts for a good 3/4 of the protein content in milk products such as cheese and it's a very good source of protein. Aside from this error, yes, Thiamine and Niacin are amino acids and very important to the human diet.

Brad 02/23/2010 15:01 PM

So one of the ten ingredients, yeast actually may be made up of three ingredients: yeast, sorbitan monostearate, ascorbic acid. This is for a common brand of instant yeast. Baking powder would contain sodium bicarbonate, cream of tarter, and most likely corn starch. As for the ingredients needed to make the cheese and ham - well that just tacks on to the total. You won't find ham without nitrate/nitrite and sodium eythorbate. Ingredients seem frightening, but most of the stuff in hot pockets is.... More