“Beetle” Based Food Color Must Be Listed On Label Says the FDA

“Beetle” Based Food Color Must Be Listed On Label Says the FDA – Beetle Juice?

I had no idea I have been munching on these little guys for years, and probably wearing them as well! As everything else goes today with being the informed consumer, transparency on what we are wearing and eating will be reflected on the labeled products, gives a whole new meaning to “beetle juice”. BD

That’s right, bugs. Specifically, crushed cochineal beetles. The ingredient is also often called carmine.

There has been debate for many years about the safety of using these crushed bugs to color food and cosmetics.

Now the Food and Drug Administration has finally ruled that products with carmine and cochineal list them by name in ingredient lists.

Until now there was no way to know if a product contained the bug-based food color.

It has been found it in yogurt, Good and Plenty candy and Tropicana's Ruby Red grapefruit.

The coloring, which is extracted from the dried bodies of the tiny cochineal bug, have been hidden on labels under the terms “artificial colors” or “color added.”