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Red dye in your food; Where does it come from?
Topic Started: Aug 28 2007, 04:25 PM (136 Views)
ML
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Next
time you're browsing the supermarket in search of the makings of that night's dinner, pause a moment to read the ingredients labels of your favorite red-colored ingestibles and cosmetics. Chances are, you'll discover a notation for cochineal, carmine, or carminic acid, pigments whose origins might surprise and possibly disgust you.

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 desiccated 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.

Today cochineal has been surpassed as a dye for cloth by a number of synthetic pigments, but is still widely used as a coloring agent for a number of foodstuffs, beverages, and cosmetics (because many of those synthetic dyes proved dangerous to humans when taken internally or allowed to leach into the body through the skin). It takes about 70,000 insects to make one pound of cochineal.

While cochineal is used in a wide variety of foods, it is not found in kosher products because Jewish dietary laws prohibit the inclusion of insects or their parts in food. The "ewww!" factor nothwithstanding, cochineal is a safe food colorant aside from a few rare cases of allergic reaction.

Another red dye used in foods, FD&C Red Dye #40 (alternatively known as Red #40), is often mistakenly assumed to be a euphemism for cochineal or carmine. It's not — it's bug-free and is actually derived from coal.

Our distaste at the thought of ingesting bugs is based on cultural factors rather than the properties or flavors of the insects themselves. Western society eschews (rather than chews) bugs, hence the widespread "Ewww!" reaction to the news that some of our favorite foods contain extract of beetle.


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beachbuminthecountry
Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2006 5:04 pm Post subject:

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I would stay away from dyes, but if I had to choose which one, the bug. The thouhgt of eating coal , now that is gross. Very interesting article
_________________
Thank you and God Bless

When satan comes knocking at your door, just say, "Jesus can you get that for me"


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healthybee
Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2006 6:02 pm Post subject:

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I agree, coal is much worse!
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Blessings,
healthybee


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moldlady
Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2006 9:40 pm Post subject:

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I'm the veggie queen of this group and I hate the thought of eating bugs. But, I agree anything related to coal and coal tar derivatives is grotesque.

I guess I have to stay away from red for two reasons. What's wrong with using beet juice or raspberry juice for coloring. They're natural! They sure stain my clothes!


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healthybee
Posted: Wed Nov 22, 2006 8:54 am Post subject:

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I have tried those. The color will never be as RED as some want it to be. I don't mind the paler colors.

You cannot use the powdered veggies in makeup as they do not adhere to the skin. (tried that too!) Maybe if infused with oils they would work but I have not been able to get the two to blend yet. (also tried)

I guess the red dye is sort of the same concept as white flour and white sugar. Someone decided that perfect white was better than off-white so they bleached them!! (I'm gathering it was the French.) People will do the darndest things!

I have used Iris and other flowers to dye fabrics but that is as far as I have experimented and been able to get consistent results.
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Blessings,
healthybee

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Lannie
Posted: Wed Nov 22, 2006 8:55 am Post subject:

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Oh, and pomegranate! I STILL have spots on a t-shirt where I splashed some years ago. I never could get it out. Hmmm... maybe I should splash some more on there and make a pattern...

~Lannie


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healthybee
Posted: Wed Nov 22, 2006 8:56 am Post subject:

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HEY Lannie!

Hey, great idea! Make a pattern or try using hydrogen peroxide to bleach it out!


We apparently posted at the same time again! Great minds, huh??
_________________
Blessings,
healthybee

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moldlady
Posted: Wed Nov 22, 2006 9:19 am Post subject:

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mulberries make a nice stain too.....


What did the Indians use to make their war paint?

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