Have You Eaten Bugs Today? About Red Food Dye

Now it's time to scour the pantry. Take a peek at that box of red candy, strawberry cake mix or bottle of red wine vinegar. If you notice the ingredients cochineal extract, carminic acid or carmine -- all common red dyes -- on the label, they contain dried bugs.

Red bugs in My Food

Red dye made from carminic acid is derived from the female Dactylopius coccus costa, or cochineal insect. Although the Food and Drug Administration requires the bud-derivative to be pasteurized or treated with a similar process to eliminate Salmonella microorganisms, the thought of eating foods tinted red with insect innards may make your stomach turn -- or worse, cause an allergic reaction.

Red Dye Can be Dangerous

After accepting the bug-component of cochineal extract, carminic acid or carmine, take heed if you experience allergic reactions to food additives. In a 1997 study by the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Allergy at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor researchers confirmed an allergic reaction to a carmine-dyed frozen treat. Within three hours of eating a frozen Good Humor SnoFruit treat dyed with carmine, a 27-year-old subject reported anaphylaxis, nausea and hypotension with tachycardia.

Not a New Concept

Native Americans and Mexicans have been using the natural red bug dye for centuries. When carminic acid is mixed with natural dyes from other sources, fade resistant red, purple and blue dyes are created and used to color fibers in cloth making, according to the University of California at Los Angeles' The Midred E. Mathias Botanical Garden. Today, Peru and the Canary Islands are top producers of carminic acid.

Cochineal extract, carminic acid or carmine also add color to non-food items. Before picking up a tube of lipstick, compact of eye shadow or bottle of shampoo peek at the ingredient list. You might be surprised to find bugs in your favorite products.

Sources and Suggested Further Reading:

University of California at Los Angeles' The Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden; Red Scales in the Sunset; Arthur C. Gibson, undated

Food and Drug Administration; CFR - Code of Federal Regulations Title 21

Snopes.com; Red Red Whine; Barbara Mikkelson, undated

Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Allergy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Popsicle-induced anaphylaxis due to carmine dye allergy

Inchem.org, Food Standards Agency London, United Kingdom; WHO Food Additives Series 46: Cochineal extract, carmine, and carminic acid; Dr J. B. Greig; undated

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