Interesting article: 6 Popular Foods That Are Made With Bugs

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6 Popular Foods That Are Made With Bugs

We don't want to alarm you, but may you have eaten beetles with breakfast this morning. At least six popular foods and drinks are made with coloring derived from crushed female cochineal beetles. You may not find that on the ingredient list--yet. The Wall Street Journal reports that the Food and Drug Administration has been persuaded by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocate group, to propose a requirement that companies disclose when a food contains dried bug carcasses.

Six foods that contain crushed female cochineal beetles:

Good & Plenty candy

Dannon Fruit on the Bottom Boysenberry yogurt

Tropicana Ruby Red Grapefruit

Yoplait Thick and Creamy Low-Fat Strawberry yogurt

Tropicana Orange Strawberry Banana Juice

SoBe Courage Cherry Citrus Drink

Manmade colorings have to be identified by name on ingredient labels, but that's not so with naturally-occurring colors. So instead of listing "insects" on the label, the companies typically use "color added" or "artificial color." The FDA proposal would require them to use the words "carmine" (it's vivid red) and "cochineal" (it's bright orange). The Journal reports that some companies, notably Dannon, Tropicana and Yoplait, are already listing these on their labels, while others are taking steps to remove the beetle crushings from their products. Still, most people won't have a clue what "carmine" and "cochineal" mean.