Female Cochineal Beetle and your Food
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Interesting. Here’s an organic additive that creates deep and rich reds for your food or cosmetics. Ground up female cochineal beetles. I’ll be looking for these 5mm critters the next time I go shopping and begin reading packaging ingredients. ___Yes, the ingredient is called cochineal, carmine (carminic acid), or E120. Because beetles are insects it is not considered kosher, halal, or vegetarian. Some people can have allergic reactions to it, as was televised by “60 Minutes”. Yes, this kid almost died of anaphylactic shock. I’m always amazed at what is put into our food that we don’t know about. As usual, Canadian labeling laws do not give you any indication of its origins. While I do not have an aversion to eating bugs (they make a great supplemental protein source), I know most other people do. Cochineal can also be used as organic ant repellent. ___It is interesting that “60 Minutes” omitted to tell us of the long history of this dye and its stellar safety record. There was much sensationalism in the story, as if this was a new additive used by evil food manufacturers to poison us all. So much for unbiased reporting. |
 Female cochineal are flat, wingless, 5mm long, oval shaped scale insects. Dried and crushed they make an all natural, deep red dye for food and cosmetics |
Apparently this is not a Female cochineal beetle, 5mm long, ground up is used as a red dye in food and cosmetics, but a scarab beetle. Cochineal are scale insects. For those entomologists that wrote nasty emails to me condemning me, may you have a lifelong case of phthirus pubis.
Cochineal red was used by the Spanish in the 1500s
___This dye and food colouring has a colourful history, and sure is old school:
Cochineal and its close cousin carmine (also known as carminic acid) are derived from the crushed carcasses of a particular South and Central American beetle. These popular colorants, which today are used to impart a deep red shade to fruit juices, gelatins, candies, shampoos, and more, come from the female Dactylopius coccus, a beetle that inhabits a type of cactus known as Opuntia.
Dactylopius coccus was the source of a red dye used by Aztecs and Mexican Indians for centuries before the arrival of the Spaniards. Those indigenous peoples would collect cochineal insects, briefly immerse them in hot water to kill the beasties and dissolve the females’ waxy coating, and then dry them in the sun. The dessicated insects would then be ground to a fine powder.
The Spaniards immediately grasped the potential of the pigment, so these dried insects became one of the first products to be exported from the New World to the Old. Europeans took to the beautiful, bright scarlet colour immediately both for its vibrant hue and for its extraordinary colorfast properties, ensuring that boatloads of cochineal insects would make the trans-Atlantic trek.
Cochineal beetles exude a sticky white substance. Female beetles suck juice out of cactus
___Of course manufacturers are not going to alert you with “beetle guts” in their ingredients list, so there are many other names for it. Is this unethical or are we just not educated enough?
Most consumers are unaware that the phrases “cochineal extract”, “carmine”, “crimson lake”, “natural red 4″, “C.I. 75470″, “E120″, or even “natural colouring” refer to a dye that is derived from an insect. One reason for its popularity is that, unlike many commercial synthetic red dyes, it is not toxic or carcinogenic…
Carmine is one of the very few pigments considered safe enough for use in eye cosmetics. A significant proportion of the insoluble carmine pigment produced is used in the cosmetics industry for hair- and skin-care products, lipsticks, face powders, rouges, and blushes. A bright red dye and the stain carmine used in microbiology is often made from the carmine extract, too. The pharmaceutical industry uses cochineal to colour pills and ointments.
___You learn something new everyday. Science is so cool. I appreciate how organic compounds can be used in our food. This proves that bugs can be safely eaten. When I see bugs being eaten in Thailand it intrigues me. It is comforting to know that we all eat bugs on a daily basis and just did not know it.
Addendum Mar 28 2012: Crushed bugs give Starbucks Frappucino its pretty pink colour: This is so funny because it is NOT news. Ditto Starbucks bugs vegan with Frappuccino dye made from ground up insects, but for those allergic to the insects, at least there are some substitutes that are being used.
March 10th, 2009 at 18:10
Talking about of red dyes … I discovered that red yeast rice is commonly used as the colouring for char siu, i.e. Cantonese barbequed pork.
I would assume that red yeast rice could be kosher, halal and vegetarian … but the reason that I’ve recently learned about it is that red yeast rice reduces cholesterol. It has the same active ingredient as Mevacor.
May 3rd, 2009 at 00:20
You find this comforting, that we eat bugs on a daily basis? Maybe it is to you, but I find ‘disturbing’ to be a better word! Even moreso because it is not common knowledge. Yuck!!
May 5th, 2009 at 17:51
Erica, I do not consciously eat bugs on a daily basis. I am a realist though. Bugs are too ubiquitous to avoid. They are wherever we can live. To eliminate them would be to eliminate ourselves. Bugs are also environmentally friendly. Many Asian countries eat bugs as a common supplement to their diet. I recall that Thailand is one of these countries.
If I did go to a country that had deep fried ants for sale on the streets I would certainly buy and eat some. Low fat, high protein, inexpensive. Tasty, maybe. bugs may be the next North American food breakthrough.
June 29th, 2009 at 23:38
Hi,
Where did you get the photo of the cochineal beetle at the top of this article? I’d love to contact the copyright owner and use it in a project.
Thanks.
August 11th, 2009 at 12:41
You have the wrong graphic for the Cochineal scale insect, it is not a beetle. The picture you have is of a scarab beetle which not a scale insect or where they get the red dye from. You should learn the difference between the 2.
December 28th, 2009 at 20:14
Derrick is correct. The female cochineal insect is soft – no shell – and has only vestigial legs. For more info and photos, search \cochineal insect\ at http://www.bugguide.net
I can’t figure out where this \beetle\ thing comes from, but it’s dead wrong!
February 24th, 2010 at 16:08
As Derrick and Ron say, the “beetle” picture is completely wrong. It’s now being replicated throughout the net – wrong information spreads fast it seems! Please get rid of it. It’s easy enough to find images of the right bug online if you take the time to look. It’s not a beetle of any kind; it’s a scale insect – a bug. Do change it!!
September 9th, 2010 at 22:54
[...] I borrowed some info and photos from Don Tai’s blog [...]
September 9th, 2010 at 23:06
Hey I think this is a great little article overviewing these bugs. Just wanted to let you I was researching them for my own blog and I wanted to say that I used some of these pics.
September 10th, 2010 at 07:13
That’s a nice article you wrote. It is important to understand the source of our food, no matter how seemingly disgusting. Some cultures such as Thailand and Indonesia regularly serve up bugs as roadside snacks. They are an excellent source of protein. I’m still not ready for deep fried cockroaches, no matter how tasty.
February 17th, 2011 at 01:08
Please change the picture associated with this post! It is the first thing that comes up when you do a Google image search of “cochineal.” I am teaching a class called “Insects and People” and today we just did the lab where we do tie-dye with cochineal. I do not want images of a scarab beetle tagged as cochineal floating around the internet to misinform my students. While beetles and scale insects are both in the Class Insecta, they are in completely different orders! It’s like calling a house cat a blue whale (they’re both in the Class Mammalia). This make may seem like small potatoes to you, but this is a big mistake.
March 4th, 2011 at 00:07
People don’t seem to pay too much attention these days about the quality of intake that they are using. it is nice to see you posting about such an important issue.
April 5th, 2011 at 07:18
They use this insect to make Coca-cola
April 19th, 2011 at 01:09
Hey ramina, really? any confirmation source?
September 1st, 2011 at 16:10
[...] Credit: Don Tai The Cochineal Beetle used to make [...]