People like food that is colorful. Oranges that are orange, apples that are bright red, cucumbers that are green. We are a spoiled society. But like most foods that aren’t organic, they are processed and tampered with preservatives and dyes that enable them to retain their beautiful color and appeal.
Recently I learned about products containing cochineal dyes. If you ever look at a label of some product that is red, like lipstick, red popcorn, drinks, chips, icecream, etc. it will tell you if it is a product containing cochineal dye. But how many of us actually know what cochineal is??? I didn’t.
I hope you have a strong stomach. This kind of stuff doesn’t bother me, and I will continue to eat products containing this dye.
Cochineal is an insect found in the arid regions Peru or the Caribbean. They are actually farmed out there for the specific purpose of coloring food! Haha, talk about eating bugs! The females are tinted red around their head, giving this beautifully rich red color. They are then ground up and processed to make dyes for several products.
For more information, check out this article. There are some links to other articles concerning the matter.
http://www.foodqualitynews.com/news/ng.asp?id=65603-cochineal-carmine-color
Like I said, I don’t believe I have allergies to cochineal, so this doesn’t affect me at all. But this is a neat tid bit for those who like to know what is in their food!
