Does Natural Food Coloring Bug You?

Many manufacturers are grabbing every opportunity to emphasise the presence of natural food coloring in the food they sell and quickly abandoning artificial food dyes. Why? They have recognised the craze for natural foods and know that people are looking for healthier alternatives in their diet. A natural food coloring that is now becoming increasingly popular in yogurts, candies, jams, sausage, milk, and even cosmetics is “carmine”. Now, before I tell you what “carmine” is, what does it sound like to you? Some nice herb, flower, or plant?

None of these. It’s a bug, a red beetle. This is what "carmine" looks like:

cochineal Now, who is going to suspect that Red 4, Natural Red, E120, Carminic acid, or Crimson Lake are food colorings obtained from some insect! As it’s hardly within the expectation of an average consumer, it does come across as manufacturers being sneaky, vague and elusive in their ingredient declaration, doesn’t it? Can food authorities step out and insist on making things clearer for consumers than now? (See below the pictures of the food labels I took while I was at the groceries.)

Well, in principle, I’m not going against the idea of eating food with a coloring from bug (though, yes, I do feel very uncomfortable about it). The point is, manufacturers should come clean with this natural food coloring if they want to use it. My dictionary defines “carmine” as “a crimson or purplish-red color”. Consumers are going to least expect that “carmine” is actually an animal-based coloring from this living thing called cochineal. Perhaps, if it’s printed as animal-based coloring, cochineal instead of "natural food coloring", whoever is cautious enough can go look up the dictionary to find out what “cochineal” is, and vegetarians can also immediately avoid it!

At the end of the day, if consumers think they are fine with eating food with carmine added and there’s nothing unhealthy about eating bugs. At least it’s consumers’ final choice and decision. Like in the case of my 11-yr-old niece and seven-yr-old daughter; both knew their packs of sweets have carmine added, both had the ingredient explained, and both surprisingly were not a bit bothered when eating the sweets. And if they are not getting any allergy reactions from ingesting carmine, and don’t find eating sweets with the bug any less appetising, then I don’t want to stop them from eating them with all my might.

Watch this video on carmine. It's rather informative.

Last warnings: Be extra careful from now on when you pick up a pack of rosy candies or fruit juice. There may be more than meets the eye in those “All Natural”, “No Artificial Colorings Added” food labels.

Do you have a similar experience regarding natural coloring? Share with us! Help one another assess truth and have a chance to refuse the kinds of food they don’t like or don’t believe in.

Post Your Experience/Comments Regarding Natural Coloring Here


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