Cochineal

 

The cochineal is a scale insect in the suborder Sternorrhyncha, from which the NATURAL DYE CARMINE is derived.

Cochineal – Red #40 comes from this, they smash the red bugs.

1. A scarlet dye used chiefly for coloring food.

2. The dried bodies of a female scale insect, which are crushed to yield this dye.

In January 2006, the FDA evaluated a proposal that would require food products containing carmine to list it by name on the ingredient label.^[6] It was also announced that the FDA will separately review the ingredient labels of prescription drugs which contain colorings derived from carmine. A request from the Center for Science in the Public Interest (article titled: “FDA Urged to Improve Labeling of or Ban Carmine Food Coloring”^[7][8]) to require ingredient labels to explicitly state that carmine may cause severe allergic REACTIONS and anaphylactic shock and that it is derived from insects was declined by the FDA. Food industries were aggressively opposed to the idea of writing “insect based” on the label and they finally agreed to simply putting “CARMINE.”

In the United States, carmine is approved as dye for foodstuffs. In January 2009, FDA passed a new regulation^[9] requiring carmine and cochineal to be listed by name on the label.

Although concerns over hazards from allergic reactions have been asserted,^[10] the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not banned the use of carmine and states it found no evidence of a “significant hazard” to the general population.^[11] As with many chemical compounds, the dye may still pose an allergen hazard to a subset of the population.

Anytime you see an ingredients list that includes carmine, cochineal extract or natural red 4, you can be sure that there's a little powdered bug therein.

Cochineal may be made from bugs, but other synthetic red dyes such as Red No. 2 and Red No. 40, which carry far greater health risks, are derived from either coal or petroleum byproducts. Compared with these sources, bugs might sound positively appetizing…NOT!

My advice? READ LABELS and KNOW what you are eating!

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Got info from another source.