Beetle Juice
I’ll take my yogurt with fruit –
and a side of bugs?
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I
ngredient labels can seem a lot like alphabet soup — which
can leave you wondering exactly what’s in the products you
use. But don’t ask questions you don’t want to know the
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answer to.
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For class schedule,
It goes by carmine, crimson lake, cochineal, E120 and
today!
visit
natural red 4 — and it’s what gives candies, fruit juices and
275-1391
www.pyramids.org
lipsticks bright red tones. But no matter what you call it, it’s
significantly less glamorous than its pigmenting properties might
suggest.
It’s a food-coloring additive used en masse by manufactur-
No experience
necessary.
ers across the country — and it’s made from ground beetles.
All levels welcome
Carmine is primarily manufactured in Peru and the Canary
Islands, where female cochineal beetles, which typically thrive
on cacti plants, live in abundance. According to the South
The Club at Green Valley
Florida Cactus and Succulent Society, these insects are brushed
Mind/Body Studio
off cacti by the thousands, transported to production plants and
Lendew Street, Greensboro are soon baked, steamed or drowned in hot water. Because
carmine is most heavily concentrated in fertilized cochineal
eggs, once dead and dried out, the beetles are separated from
their abdomens. These parts are then ground, boiled and drained
— leaving manufacturers with carmine in its purest powder
form. According to reports from the SFCSS, it takes over 70,000
beetles to produce a pound of the powder.
Carmine is used in products ranging from dairy products
to cosmetics to pharmaceuticals. But it is not an essential in-
gredient to these products — carmine is used mainly to for its
coloring properties and adds little substance to a product oth-
erwise.
So, given the gross factor, why put pulverized beetle in food
and drink if it doesn’t add any significant nutritional value? The
answer is simple — carmine makes products more striking.
Consumers buy products that are aesthetically appealing, and
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NaturalTriad.com
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