Beetle juice?
I watched a Canadian news show last night. It stated that a certain beetle is being killed, dried and ground and then added to food - it adds a red colour to food and this is done apparently, so the food labels can claim, "natural colour" is used, as opposed to "artificial colour." In Canada, that is all the label needs to say, however, in the USA, the rules are more stringent and this additive"beetle juice" is given the name, "cochineal" or, "carmine." The report stated that rarely, someone has an allergy and one little boy was critically ill until it was discovered that this additive was in his yogurt. I have to say I was gobsmacked to find out that dried beetles are being used as an a food additive. Is it just me, or were any of you aware of this?
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16 Comments:
yes - that's why vegetarians in the know do not purchase products with CARMINE as part of their ingredient list... It's added to a lot of fruit juices for its red color - guava juice, guava/pineapple juice, acerola juice, etc.
It may be natural, but it's not vegetarian for sure...
Madelyn
KarmaFreeCooking
MadelynRodriguez at 2:38PM on 03/09/09
bareneed, as someone who works in Canadian food labelling I've never heard this before. But I would think that as long as these "beetles" are either populated in a healthy fashion, or overpopulated there is no need to be alarmed.
Also FYI on-topic from canuck-to-canuck; we are very lucky to have such strict guidelines in Canada in comparison to the US.
The canadian labelling requirements will (in the end) actually require the manufacturer to go into greater detail for product safety and efficacy than the FDA in the US.
Example It is up to the US consumer's personal knowledge to actually know that CARMINE = BEETLE as listed in the ingredients; but in Canada it would be (or should be, enforced by the CFIA) clearly labelled to avoid any consumer confusion.
hungrychristel at 3:32PM on 03/09/09
That gives a whole new dimension to what we used to call "Bug Juice" at camp. Maybe it was, in fact, actually Bug Juice.
juliebugsmama at 3:41PM on 03/09/09
Cochineal as been around since dirt was a rock. It's not anything outrageous or gross. Not everything in your food has to come from a petrochemical plant.
SqueezeBottle at 3:54PM on 03/09/09
I knew this, and learning about it didn't affect my food selection at all.
Cochineal has been around for a long time in Japan, too.
hmw0029 at 4:28PM on 03/09/09
This is nothing new. Better or worse than FD&C Red #5? I don't know. But I do know that carmine has been in use for many years.
Food allergies can be serious and varied, whether they involve honey, peanuts, carmine or shellfish. Why is it such a big deal that someone got sick from bugs? How many people die annually from peanut allergies?
Kerosena at 4:29PM on 03/09/09
I didn't know that! It's actually kind of cool...
sailordave at 6:28PM on 03/09/09
Carmine beetles have been used as a pigment in food, cosmetics and art supplies for decades. Before the food colorings as we now know them were available to home cooks, carmine (beetle) paste was available to home cooks at the grocery store.
heavymeadow at 6:46PM on 03/09/09
Sure I was aware of it
I'd rather eat a bug than a chemical.
Besides, we all eat a lot of bugs already, so one used as a coloring agent does not bother me. Better one used on purpose than the bits that flew or dropped in during processing I guess! :D
sadiepix at 6:46PM on 03/09/09
This info recently appeared in Glamour or some such mag and one of my very picky co-workers is being a terrible baby about it. I also saw it on a Food Detectives epidsode from a couple weeks ago that I just watched this weekend. This has been done for a long time. I knew about it and forgot about it but now no one in my office can bring in a red food or beverage without Miss PickyPants demanding to read the ingredients and then ranting and raving that we shouldn't eat it and that she's grossed out by watching us eat it. I think it's good to be informed so thanks to BareNeed for posting for those who didn't know or had forgotten. I just wish the media wouldn't alarm people so much about stuff like this.
CooksForOne at 6:51PM on 03/09/09
@kerosena - I think the point was with the food allergy was that noone knew what was causing the child's problem because they didn't know what the ingredient, "carmine" was - after he went into anaphylactic shock, a Doctor finally came up with the source of the allergy - I guess I was so surprised because I also did not know what "carmine" was and that it is used fairly commonly in the food chain - obviously, it is a well known fact which I somehow missed.
bareneed at 7:34PM on 03/09/09
Carmine is also used to color Campari.
hobobrown at 10:06AM on 03/10/09
Here's a Jan. 12 posting on gourmet.com:
link
jimmyr at 11:46AM on 03/10/09
I used to drink an apéritif until I found out that its rich red color came from ground up bugs. It may be "natural" but I take a pass on it now.
TresChienChaud at 11:56AM on 03/10/09
@jimmyr - thanks for the link, interesting!
bareneed at 12:37PM on 03/10/09
I'm well aware of cochineal being used in everything from food to cosmetics. Doesn't perturb me in the least. Its been used for centuries.
The only reason its getting any coverage is because its made from an insect. If it were just an allergy to Red Dye #5, there would not be nearly so much fuss.
fuuchan at 1:38PM on 03/10/09