Click here for the story. OK, now I am having another bug freak-out. Found this story via Fark about food additives. I didn’t realize that carmine and cochineal are food colorings derived from crushed beetles. They are found in lots of innocent-looking foods where you would not expect to find insect parts, such as popular brands of yogurt, fruit juice and candy (assuming candy can be considered “innocent”). The food industry is being all grumpy over the prospect of actually mentioning that there are insects in the food. But it would be nice to know, wouldn’t it? Not only does it make stuff not vegetarian, it might also be considered not kosher. Forget about the fact that most people don’t really want to eat bugs. Here is the wikipedia entry on these guys.Now, is it really that important to change the color of the food? So what if you think it looks better? It's got damned bugs in it! Not appealing! And you're adding them on purpose!
- insects - food -
3 comments:
I knew about cochineal for coloring cloth and yarn but wasn't aware it was used in food. I'm not a vegetarian but this is still not appetizing. I've seen live cochineal on prickly pear and they are not something you would want to eat! YUCK!
The most irritating part (right after the part about sticking bugs in the food) is that they don't even have to list carmine or cochineal as ingredients. They can just say there's color added, and can call it artificial or natural. Don't know how they get away with that stuff. Double Yuck.
Now there's a Hallmark greeting!
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