Unfortunately, I am not kidding. For the next several days I will post a series on deciphering food additives. It started when I read an article by Jonathan Hermann in VegNews this month. It was extremely well written, but one of those articles that would leave you queasy should you be sensitive. Not that I am by any means all knowing, but I do plenty of research regarding what I put in my body, and I learned a lot.
So for today and every day hereafter, please hold the beetle. By beetle I mean the additive carmine, a.k.a. cochineal. These additives refer to the ground-up carcasses of beetles. The additive is used as a red coloring agent in processed foods. Never-mind that beet juice would serve the same purpose, as I often see on product labels when shopping at Native Sun or Whole Foods.
I was surprised to learn some of the items “beetled”: pink lemonades, grapefruit juices, maraschino cherries, Yoplait Thick and Creamy Lowfat Strawberry Yogurt, and Tropicana Orange Strawberry Banana Juice. And it takes approximately 70,000 beetles (note: no typo) to produce a mere 1 lb. of carmine.
A little fresh squeezed OJ is looking pretty good right now.
that is sick!
i am going back to a vegan diet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
also whey protein powder is sometimes ground up animal bones?
isnt that true? Keep up the great work and um………no shirley temples for me any time soon.
[...] am- started to mull over the ingredient list. And viola… veg lawyer happens to run across the recently mentioned carmine. Carmine , also known as Red 4, is a coloring additive derived from beetle carcases and is used in [...]
My wife has an extreme allergic reaction to Carmine. We have tried to get Yoplait and others to stop using it but they don’t seem to care. Her eyes swell shut with just the smallest bite of anything with Carmine in it. It seems to be getting more prevalent. Despite being extremely gross it is a dangerous product.
[...] 4, 2009 by veglawyer A while back I did a post on carmine. It is an additive in processed foods and utilized as a red food coloring [...]