'Terrifying' new Netflix documentary Poisoned is putting viewers off common foods

A new Netflix documentary is forcing viewers to completely change their diets.

If you've not already seen it, check out the trailer for Poisoned: The Dirty Truth About Your Food here:

As the title suggests, the gripping film delves into the murky world of the food industry and how common foods we all eat are prepared. And the truth is not good. At all.

Headed up by filmmaker Stephanie Soechtig, it investigates how the US food industry manages foodborne pathogens.

The doc also detail the numerous cover-ups and criminal prosecutions that have been launched as a result.

The synopsis reads: "Our policymakers and food industry execs have been unrelenting in suggesting America’s food is 'the safest in the world', but how can they protect us when it isn’t?"

Like many of these kinds of films in the past, such as What the health, it is already having a major impact on those who've seen it.

Netflix

And there are a few food types in particular that you'll be thinking twice about the next time you're in the supermarket.

The first of those is lettuce. It's often the veg that gets lobbed into the trolley to make us feel better for the mountain of chocolates and sweets we tend to pick up while in the shops.

However, experts in the doc explain that due to the lettuce fields of Central Valley in California and Yuma in Arizona being so close factory farms, the popular leaf can often harbour E. coli.

This is because the farms sometimes share irrigation streams, which can become contaminated with faecal matter.

And while the packaged heads of lettuce claim to be triple washed, the only way to clean them of the dangerous bacteria is to cook them, which people tend not to do.

A similar issue has been found with the beef industry.

In the early 90s, an outbreak of E.coli at Jack in The Box restaurants on several states led to hundreds of people falling ill, with four children dying. As a result, the burger chain had to pay out $50 million to victims.

These days, however, due to a huge safety crackdown, it's much less common for beef to be contaminated.

And one of the most worrying and confusing revelations from the film is that it's actually legal for companies to sell raw chicken products that are contaminated with salmonella. Yes, really.

Netflix

A U.S. Court of Appeals ruling in 1974 stated that it’s the consumer’s responsibility to thoroughly cook their own poultry.

All of this has shocked viewers, with many pledging to change their ways.

Taking to Twitter, one person said: "Mmmmk great. Well it looks like after watching the #poisoned doc on Netflix I’m just going to never eat food again unless I grow it myself. I’ll let you know how that goes. How things aren’t more regulated is insane. It’s literally people’s well-being & lives!!!!"

Another commented: "If you’ve watched Poisoned on Netflix you’ll understand why I never eat salad and pre-cut fruit from fast food restaurants/ grocery stores."

While yet another added: "The Netflix Documentary Poisoned was eye opening, terrifying, upsetting, and depressing. BE BETTER AMERICA."

Others said the doc convinced them it was best to be vegan.

One wrote: "Watched Poisoned on Netflix. Further solidified my choice to go vegan."

A second said: "The Poisoned Netflix documentary makes me contemplate switching to a vegan lifestyle, tossing those lil chicks like rags."

Poisoned: The Dirty Truth About Your Food is available to watch on Netflix now.