Think the milk, fruits, and chicken you eat today are the same ones your grandparents enjoyed? Not even close. In the last 50 years, food has gone through major changes, driven by technology, marketing, and our preferences. Here are 11 foods that look very different from what they used to be.
11. Apples
Before the 1980s, your choice for apples at the supermarket was likely limited to Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, or Granny Smith. Today, you can find dozens of varieties, including crisp Honeycrisp and sweet-tangy Jazz. This is thanks to university breeding programs that began creating new cultivars with better taste, texture, and shelf life. It’s a delicious reminder that not all changes are for the worse.
10. Pork
Fifty years ago, pork was different. It was darker, fattier, and often raised outdoors. The transformation to the modern, lean “other white meat” is a result of industrial farming practices that began in the 1970s. Pigs were moved indoors into concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and fed a diet with low-dose antibiotics. It wasn’t just for disease prevention; the antibiotics also helped pigs put on weight faster and more effectively.
9. Ice Cream
Check the ingredients on a carton of Breyers ice cream from the 1970s. What you’ll see: milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla. Check that same carton today, and you might find a long list of stabilizers, gums, and artificial flavors. This shift isn’t unique to one brand. Over the past few decades, many mainstream ice cream manufacturers replaced traditional ingredients with cheaper alternatives to cut costs and extend shelf life.
8. Breakfast Cereals
Breakfast cereals have always had a sweet side, but the sugar content has skyrocketed in recent decades. A study examining cereals from 1992 to 2015 found that sugar content per serving increased by almost 11%, while fat rose by 34% and sodium by 32%. The once-simple breakfast has turned into a dessert-like meal, contributing to the rising rates of childhood obesity and other health problems.
7. Salmon
Fifty years ago, the salmon on your plate was almost certainly wild, caught in a river or the ocean. Today, it’s farmed, raised in crowded pens and fed a processed diet. Farmed salmon is higher in fat, including omega-3s, but also contains more pro-inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids and contaminants. While farming made salmon cheaper, it has created a product that’s nutritionally different from its wild ancestor.
6. Eggs
For decades, eggs were public enemy number one. Health authorities warned that their high cholesterol content would clog arteries. It took nearly 50 years of research to vindicate the humble egg. Major health organizations admitted in 2015 that dietary cholesterol has little effect on blood cholesterol for most people.
5. Milk
The dairy cow of today is a marvel compared to her ancestor from 50 years ago, thanks to science. The average U.S. dairy cow produces more than twice as much milk as she did in 1970, and four times as much as in 1945. However, the high-yielding cows have a shorter lifespan and are more prone to health problems. The milk itself is also different, with lower fat and protein content than the milk of the past.
4. Turkey
The Thanksgiving turkey we now have would be almost unrecognizable to a farmer from 50 years ago. Modern turkeys have been selectively bred to have enormous breasts, the most popular cut of meat. This resulted in a bird that is so top-heavy it can no longer reproduce naturally and must be artificially inseminated.
3. Ultra-Processed Foods
Perhaps the most dramatic shift in our diet over the past 50 years has been the takeover of our kitchens by ultra-processed foods. In the 1970s, the American diet was still largely based on whole ingredients. Today, nearly 60% of the calories we consume are from ultra-processed products. This shift has been linked to soaring rates of obesity and chronic disease.
2. Bananas
You may not have eaten the banana your grandparents enjoyed. Until the 1960s, the world’s banana was the Gros Michel, a variety reportedly more flavorful than what we have today. But a fungal plague called Panama Disease wiped out the Gros Michel crop. The banana industry, facing collapse, settled on the Cavendish variety as a replacement, and the entire global supply chain was retooled for this new, blander banana.
1. Chicken
The most shocking change in our food supply over the last 50 years is the size of the modern chicken. A 2014 study recreated how chickens were raised in 1957, 1978, and 2005. The 2005 chicken was over four times heavier than its 1957 ancestor, a growth that’s linked to aggressive selective breeding. We have bred a bird that grows fast and has bigger breast, but this has come with animal welfare and potential human health concerns.