Bugs in Your Food (BeetleJuice Ice Cream), page 1

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Topic started on 5-1-2009 @ 05:26 PM by clay2 baraka

Bugs in Your Food (BeetleJuice Ice Cream)

well.blogs.nytimes.com

As it turns out, there really may be a bug in your soup.

The Food and Drug Administration has finalized a rule that will require food companies to list cochineal extract and carmine on the label when they are used in food and cosmetics. But the new rule contains one glaring omission. It doesn’t require companies to tell you that the ingredients come from a bug.

Cochineal extract and carmine, used to dye food, drinks and cosmetics various shades of red, orange, pink and purple, are extracted from the dried bodies of the female cochineal bug.

The F.D.A. typically doesn’t require color additives to be named on food labels. For years, the bug extracts “have been hidden under the terms ‘artificial colors’ or ‘color added,’ ” according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest. The group says the extracts are commonly used in reddish-colored foods and beverages, including fruit drinks, ice creams, yogurts and candies.

However, the F.D.A. required the ingredients be listed after University of Michigan allergist Dr. James L. Baldwin reported that some of his patients suffered severe allergic reactions to the bug extracts. After C.S.P.I. petitioned the F.D.A. in 1998, the group also received several dozen adverse-reaction reports from consumers.

In a statement, the group criticized the ruling, noting that labels should make it clear that the extracts come from bugs. They argue that people with allergies who want to avoid the foods for health reasons are well aware of what the ingredients are made from. But vegetarians and people of certain religious faiths who would typically avoid a bug-based product may not be aware of the origins of the extracts without more disclosure on the food label.

(visit the link for the full news article)

ATS food additive discussion here

[edit on 1/5/2009 by clay2 baraka]

reply posted on 5-1-2009 @ 05:26 PM by clay2 baraka

I think that there are many who would be surprised that the bright, candy-like colors in their bowl of ice cream are derived from the dried remains of a beetle. It is good that the US FDA is differentiating between carmine coloring and the generic label "artificial coloring."

What happened to using beets, (not beetles) as a source of coloring?

I wonder how many vegetarians are aware of this and how many people have had allergic reactions to the beetle juice?

well.blogs.nytimes.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 1/5/2009 by clay2 baraka]

reply posted on 5-1-2009 @ 05:31 PM by jam321

Seems like i learn something new on this site everyday.

Hope PETA doesn't read this article.

Good find

reply posted on 5-1-2009 @ 05:38 PM by pigwithoutawig

I don't see the problem. From what I know certain insects are good for you. Lots of nutritional value. I don't know about these bugs but it doesn't seem that people are dropping dead because of it.

reply posted on 5-1-2009 @ 05:40 PM by MikeboydUS

reply to post by clay2 baraka

Can you give some example products? I wonder how many of those products have Kosher certification.

reply posted on 5-1-2009 @ 05:40 PM by Now_Then

It's all good

- well apart from people with medical conditions, and they will probably get to know what to look out for in the ingredients, the rest of us don't really need to know per say, and really is it gonna stop you eating all the teeth rotting brightly coloured sweets?

I'm slightly more concerned by this... (slightly, but not overly concerned)

CHOCOLATE AND CHOCOLATE LIQUOR
Insect filth: Average is 60 or more insect fragments per 100 grams when 6 100-gram subsamples are examined OR any 1 subsample contains 90 or more insect fragments

Rodent filth: Average is 1 or more rodent hairs per 100 grams in 6 100-gram subsamples examined OR any 1 subsample contains 3 or more rodent hairs

When I was a little kid I was subjected to some very cruel suggestions about what was in my food by my older cousins, they would say things like there were fingers and rats tails in the gravy, stuff like that (I was like 5 or something) and for years afterwards every once in a while one of those images would pop in my head and I couldn't eat - a minor problem for me, but for some kids getting them to eat is a nightmare...

Now imagine what it would be like if the parents were throwing them selves in front of of every bit of food screaming 'Thats got spiders in it!!'

edit link for the quote

[edit on 5/1/2009 by Now_Then]

reply posted on 5-1-2009 @ 05:42 PM by clay2 baraka

Originally posted by MikeboydUS
reply to post by clay2 baraka

Can you give some example products? I wonder how many of those products have Kosher certification.

Because carmine comes from insects, some other color must be used if a product is to be labeled kosher.

It takes over a million of the insects to make a pound of dye. The insects are harvested when the females are about to lay eggs, at which time they turn a bright red color. The shells of the female insects are dried, then the color is dissolved in a solvent, and all of the insect parts are filtered out.

Because of all of this labor intensive processing, carmine is more expensive than FD&C Red #40, but it has a deep magenta-red color, and red 40 is more orange-red.

reply posted on 5-1-2009 @ 05:52 PM by clay2 baraka

Drinks with FD&C 40 (aka. BeetleJuice):

reply posted on 5-1-2009 @ 05:55 PM by FlyersFan

Originally posted by clay2 baraka
Country Time; Pink Lemonade mix
Lipton; Brisk Iced Tea

Awwwwwww crap! We drink this stuff. Or should I say - we DRANK this stuff. I had no idea it was bug juice.

thanks for the thread.

reply posted on 5-1-2009 @ 05:58 PM by clay2 baraka

Snacks that contain beetles:

reply posted on 5-1-2009 @ 06:35 PM by Nohup

Big deal. I'm sure that at one point along my genetic line, some ancient cave man ancestor probably thought a nice, juicy bug was a real treat, and it kept him or her from starving to death. And here I am today.

And if that Andrew Zimmern can eat it, so can I.

reply posted on 5-1-2009 @ 06:39 PM by Roland of Gilead

Great Find!!

I actuallly used this topic for a speech class a few years back. Surprisingly, there were only a few good images availbale online.....anyways, if memory serves, by using the beetle juice, amanufacturer can label their product as containing natural ingredients as opposed to artificial color, etc. I'm not sure how far they can go with it, advertising wise, but thats why they'll pay more for it when a cheaper chemical alternative exists

reply posted on 5-1-2009 @ 07:16 PM by ANNED

It may come as a supprise to you but the FDA has allowed bugs in food for over 50 years.

In processed grains it is called protein content.
most comes from weevils and other bugs in grain that is then made into flour
This is what is called enriched flour

Bugs are also allowed in soy, corn, and all other grains
www.bioone.org...(2005)098[2282%3AIFIFRT]2.0.CO%3B2&ct=1
www.ars.usda.gov...

"Title 21, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 110.110 allows the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to establish maximum levels of natural or unavoidable defects in foods for human use that present no health hazard. These "Food Defect Action Levels" listed in this booklet are set on this premise--that they pose no inherent hazard to health."
www.cfsan.fda.gov...

Defect Action Levels:
WHEAT FLOUR - Average of 75 or more insect fragments per 50 grams. Average of 1 or more rodent hairs per 50 grams
CORNMEAL - Average of 1 or more whole insects (or equivalent) per 50 grams. Average of 25 or more insect fragments per 25 grams.

Have a good meal tonight.

[edit on 5-1-2009 by ANNED]

reply posted on 5-1-2009 @ 09:06 PM by lel1111

Heck we eat cows, chickens, pigs, including their "juices", etc. why not a little bug juice? People wince at the sight of roadkill, but we're basically eating the same thing (flesh) you see on the road just sliced up neatly and wrapped in plastic.

Okay well at least with the animals we know what we're eating, for the most part, usually.

reply posted on 6-1-2009 @ 06:23 AM by mystiq

Actually, I'm going to be looking into my own grinder for grains, and will no longer buy anything that has even the chance of being "enriched". As to deliberately added:

I think I'm going to be asking for my money back!!!

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