are some food colourants really made from ground beetles?

Answer 1

Yep its called Cochineal

Answer 2

Cochineal (Carmine Red) colouring is still used widely in products, both cosmetics and food and drink. There are no laws against this and it is used in both the UK and the US. I googled and discovered that in the US, Minute Maid 100% Pink Grapefruit blend from concentrate contains it, lots of other items will too. Smarties used to contain cochineal, but I believe not any more.

There are ongoing battles concerning this, as clearly a Vegetarian, Vegan, Jewish person following kosher diet etc.. should not be ingesting this product. It doesn't have to be listed as an ingredient in some products, and how many people know even if they see Carmine Red listed as a colouring on lipstick, that it is Cochineal.

Answer 3

Yes, it is true... The red food colouring Cochineal.. originates from the Cochineal Beetle. The beetle is dried, ground up and somehow used to produce the stuff we put in cakes... YUM!!!!

Answer 4

Yes, usually red food colouring. The small beetles live on cacti and are farmed for the purpose. They're also used in some lip-sticks. If you're bothered by this, check if the product is vegetarian.

Answer 5

Yes! Cochineal used for colouring foods red, is made from crushed dried bodies of the Coccus insect which is found on cactus plants in South America

Answer 6

pause a moment to read the ingredients Color bug labels of your favorite red-colored ingestibles and cosmetics. Chances are, you'll discover a notation for cochineal, carmine, or carminic acid, pigments whose origins might surprise and possibly disgust you.

Cochineal and its close cousin carmine (also known as carminic acid) are derived from the crushed carcasses of a particular South and Central American beetle. These popular colorants, which today are used to impart a deep red shade to fruit juices, gelatins, candies, shampoos, and more, come from the female Dactylopius coccus, a beetle that inhabits a type of cactus known as Opuntia.

Dactylopius coccus was the source of a red dye used by Aztecs and Mexican Indians for centuries before the arrival of the Spaniards. Those indigenous peoples would collect cochineal insects, briefly immerse them in hot water to kill the beasties and dissolve the females' waxy coating, and then dry them in the sun. The desiccated insects would then be ground to a fine powder.

The Spaniards immediately grasped the potential of the pigment, so these dried insects became one of the first products to be exported from the New World to the Old. Europeans took to the beautiful, bright scarlet colour immediately both for its vibrant hue and for its extraordinary colorfast properties, ensuring that boatloads of cochineal insects would make the trans-Atlantic trek.

Today cochineal has been surpassed as a dye for cloth by a number of synthetic pigments, but is still widely used as a coloring agent for a number of foodstuffs, beverages, and cosmetics (because many of those synthetic dyes proved dangerous to humans when taken internally or allowed to leach into the body through the skin). It takes about 70,000 insects to make one pound of cochineal.

While cochineal is used in a wide variety of foods, it is not found in kosher products because Jewish dietary laws prohibit the inclusion of insects or their parts in food. The "ewww!" factor nothwithstanding, cochineal is a safe food colorant aside from a few rare cases of allergic reaction.

Another red dye used in foods, FD&C Red Dye #40 (alternatively known as Red #40), is often mistakenly assumed to be a euphemism for cochineal or carmine. It's not — it's bug-free and is actually derived from coal.

Our distaste at the thought of ingesting bugs is based on cultural factors rather than the properties or flavors of the insects themselves. Western society eschews (rather than chews) bugs, hence the widespread "Ewww!" reaction to the news that some of our favorite foods contain extract of beetle.

Answer 7

Yes the Blue food die called Coshileal is actualy the crushed armour of the Coshineal beetle ( mostly from Peru )

Answer 8

Yes. The red dye cochineal is made from cochineal beetles.

Answer 9

Yes, really, cochineal. You don't really see it in the UK anymore but when I was a nipper it was all the rage to put a few drops of it in water to make your drink blue. Then, of course, we all found out it was crushed beetle and fer-reaked out!! xx

Answer 10

yip, really they are.
i remember being on holiday in lanzarote a few years back & there were loads of the beetles there, tho can't remember their name. They use them for red colouring in things like lipsticks etc and also for Campari.

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