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Becky
Bug Juice…Kind Of
by Becky - April 24, 2007 - 4:38 PM

The next time you’re drinking Campari, or certain kinds of fruit juices (cranberry, grapefruit, et al.), give some props to the cochineal bug. (And not, as some urban legends attest, cockroaches.) 0iThe cochineal is a parasite that dwells mainly in cacti, and is harvested for the carminic acid it secretes. The resulting dye is then used to enhance drinks, candy, make-up, and fabric. Using cochineal for decorative purposes has been going on since the height of the Aztec Empire, and in 1991 scientists finally came up with a way to synthetically produce carminic acid…Not nearly as fun as soliciting the services of bugs that look like Nerds. But because some people are allergic to the extract, the FDA may soon require manufacturers to be straightforward about the origin of all these cheery pink hues. What do you think–would you like to be alerted to bug-based ingredients?

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Comments (10)

  1. Sorry, I thought it was Aztec Empire?

    posted by Christine on 4-24-2007 at 8:38 pm

  2. I don’t want to know if there’s bug juice in foods and drinks I already enjoy. It would ruin them for me.

    And, as products would go down, it’s very possible that companies would go out of business and people would lose their jobs. This is generally thought to be bad, in my own opinion.

    posted by Alison on 4-25-2007 at 8:20 am

  3. Oh god, how horrible. I absolutely want to be told what I’m drinking, or smearing on my face, or swaddling myself in…though the fabric doesn’t bother me near as much as the Rudy Red grapefruit juice I drank this a.m.

    posted by natlynn on 4-25-2007 at 9:59 am

  4. I’d take the bugs over questionable additives anyday. At least I know what it is & where it came from.

    posted by Kasee on 4-25-2007 at 10:36 am

  5. You’d be surprised at the food products you consume in a day that have unusual, yet natural, ingredients. For example, Hershey’s chocolate contains a large amount of petroleum wax, a natural byproduct of crude oil production. And a number of products from candy bars to yogurt contain Bentonite (a type of clay).

    It’s not that these things are bad, but that you’d never think of eating these things on their own…

    I would think one concern not addressed (not that I care, but just being the devil’s advocate) is how a vegetarian or vegan would feel about not being told their all natural juice drink may contain an animal byproduct…

    posted by Jason! on 4-25-2007 at 10:52 am

  6. What about cockroaches in your chocolate?

    Some claim this is only and urban legend, but experts will tell you that it is nearly impossible to get all of the little critters out of the Cocoa Bean vats before the beans are ground into powder.

    Worse still, this milling is often done in the third world where the beans are grown and harvested. We all know what the standard of hygiene is in many of these locations.

    So by the time the powder arrives in Hersey, PA, the cockroach content is already a homogenized part of the product.

    Not to worry; Bugs are one of the most under-utilized foodstuffs in the world (by humans anyway). I really don’t see much a difference between eating bugs and lobsters. If the bug is really big it is OK to eat?

    posted by n2y2 on 4-25-2007 at 10:53 am

  7. Ketchup or Catsup has more bpm (bug parts per million) than any other food. They could never get all the worms and other creeps out of the vast quantities of tomotoes used to prepare this condiment staple. True. Google it.

    posted by Brandy on 4-25-2007 at 12:27 pm

  8. Maybe if they published the amount of ‘yukky’ things found in chocolate and other junk foods I would eat less and lose some weight (lol)!

    posted by Jane on 4-25-2007 at 1:17 pm

  9. If I’m not mistaken, insects aren’t kosher. This adds another sizeable group of consumers who may be unhappy about this news.

    posted by Kathleen on 4-25-2007 at 1:54 pm

  10. Hello, I’m one of those vegan’s somebody mentioned… even though they didn’t care :) I’ve become really good at reading labels. I would prefer they put it on the packages but if someone is really being careful about what they eat or purchase for whatever reason they are going to research it beforehand. The label would definately make it easier but it’s not necessary.

    posted by kelly on 1-20-2008 at 9:52 pm

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