Do you eat food with red food coloring? Did you know you're eating bugs?
By prettyruby
@prettyruby (350)
United States
October 19, 2011 1:08am CST
Did you know that any food with red food coloring is almost guaranteed to have been made with bugs? The insect cochineal produces a substance called carminic acid, which is used by food manufacturing companies to produce 'carmine dye', also known as 'cochineal'. Basically, the companies buy a bunch of these bugs, mush them into a pulp, and then filter out the bug parts from the carminic acid. Then they use the carminic acid to make the red dye and put it into food!
After I discovered this, I started checking the labels of my food that looked red or pink. Imagine my surprise when I found that the small plastic bottles of Tropicana grapefruit juice is dyed pink with cochineal. Needless to say, I don't drink that anymore! Cookies or candies that are dyed pink or red are also possible culprits.
Please note that I'm not saying that EVERYTHING with red food coloring is made with cochineal. Additionally, I am not saying that this is unsanitary in any way - just gross.
What about you? Did you know that red food coloring comes from a chemical extracted from bugs? Have you looked at the ingredients list on your processed food items?
1 person likes this
7 responses
@ShepherdSpy (8544)
• Omagh, Northern Ireland
19 Oct 11
Various products,some of them of animal Origin like Cochineal,have been used through time as food colourings.some have had different effects on people consuming them,resulting in bans or restrictions on their use,if not replacement by more suitable products...I don't like the idea of someone dictating a food colouring choice in the foods that I eat...Kippers are coloured Yellow,for example,and having grown up eating home made Rhubarb Jam available locally with it's natural greenish colour,I resent commercial producers of Jam using red colouring because they consider the natural colour unappetising! I knew about Cochineal's origin from way back...noweadays they'll hide colourings in ingredient listings as "E-Number" codes,which can be looked up,at least..
2 people like this
@prettyruby (350)
• United States
21 Oct 11
Oh, that's interesting. I never knew Rhubarb Jam was greenish! I always thought that it would be reddish.
That's true, but it'd be nice to know what actually made those dyes. I'll bet some of them are fine, but others are probably of a questionable nature.
1 person likes this
@prettyruby (350)
• United States
12 Dec 11
Oooh, that may be true. I guess you don't keep it on while making the jam because the fiber is too tough.
1 person likes this
@ShepherdSpy (8544)
• Omagh, Northern Ireland
15 Dec 11
That's probably it...it wouldn't be of any use in the finished product,so it'd just be got rid of at the start!
1 person likes this
@TheCatLady (4691)
• Israel
12 Dec 11
That is yucky. I don't eat any food with it because I keep kosher and bugs are not kosher. They food companies can't put it into food labeled as kosher.
2 people like this
@TheCatLady (4691)
• Israel
14 Dec 11
It's good to know. If you are a vegan and don't want to eat bugs, look for the kosher label. It's hard for some people to know what is kosher and what isn't because there are many different organizations doing the certifying and all have a different emblem or logo. The USA has laws and regulations on how many bug parts can be in packaged foods. The kosher regulations are much more stringent than the FDA's.
2 people like this
@prettyruby (350)
• United States
13 Dec 11
Oh, I didn't know that. Thanks for the info!
1 person likes this
@arkaf61 (10881)
• Canada
20 Oct 11
Why stop? Richer drink with extra protein :)
Actually I prefer bugs to all the chemicals they put in everything to give it colour, taste, texture etc. etc. etc. I know, it sounds gross, but it's way less "unhealthy" than some of the stuff that is added to our foods with our knowledge or not.
Think about it, bugs versus some of the chemicals added to our foods. How do bugs compare when rated against I don't know... methanol( I think you can find it in aspartame ), or sulfites, sodium nitrate or nitrite, diacetyl. I still say the bugs win LOL
@prettyruby (350)
• United States
21 Oct 11
Omg that is gross haha. I know bugs are 'extra protein', and we probably eat them all the time without realizing it. But still. Ew.
That's also true. At least bugs tend to be made of 'natural' chemicals instead of manmade chemicals, which can often be nasty surprises.
1 person likes this
@prettyruby (350)
• United States
21 Oct 11
I eat prawns and crab too, but something about insects just makes me go blech. I always change the channel when I see people eating fried crickets or whatever on TV. Ewwww. I just killed a 3-in long centipede the other day.
Honestly though, I'd probably use it too if I wanted to make something red for some reason.
1 person likes this
@oldchem1 (8132)
•
19 Oct 11
In the UK red food colouring no longer contains this substance and is artificial.
When I was growing up it was always called cochineal and did contain this, but not any more. However it didn't do any harm - in fact it was probably better for us than the artificial colourings that are used now!
2 people like this
@prettyruby (350)
• United States
21 Oct 11
What do you mean by 'artificial'? As far as I know, all food coloring is called 'artificial food coloring', because it changes food into an artificial color. Do you mean that the dye is made from a manmade chemical?
If so, I think bugs might be preferable. Those manmade chemicals can have nasty surprises.
1 person likes this
@icyrose123 (133)
• India
9 Dec 11
Oh my God.. This is a news to me. Will check my Juice label immediately
2 people like this
@prettyruby (350)
• United States
12 Dec 11
It's pretty startling, right?! There's nothing wrong with it per se, but it's kind of gross when you think about it. Maybe it explains why some bottled juices taste a bit different from fresh-squeezed juices.
1 person likes this
@shaggin (72131)
• United States
28 Apr 12
You are exactly right! It is really gross when you think about that they use these bugs to make our food red. Why add something to the food to make it look a different color. Just leave it how it is. MOST food that is colored red uses the bugs. Up until my daughter was 5 she was allergic to red dye. She would break out in hives for days after even licking a lolipop that had red dye in it. It was terrible. There were many things we could not buy and that she could not have. If I wanted to make things red for her like a cake with pink frosting I would buy beets and use the juice in them to use as a food coloring.
