Natural Colors – Carmine & Cochineal
Written by Angel Flinn
Created Wednesday, 17 July 2013
Many consumers may not yet be aware that the red substance coloring their food, fabric, cosmetics or pharmaceuticals could be extracted from the crushed bodies of insects.
The words Cochineal, Cochineal Extract, Carmine, Crimson Lake, Natural Red 4, C.I. 75470, E120, and even some ‘natural colorings’ refer to a dye called ‘carminic acid’, which is primarily used as a food coloring and in cosmetics.
Carminic acid is a substance found in high concentration in cochineal insects. It is extracted from the insect’s body and eggs and is mixed with aluminum or calcium salts to make carmine dye (also known as cochineal).
In good news for those of us looking to avoid the products of animal exploitation, the ingredient must be included on packaging labels when used as a food additive, as it has been known to cause severe allergic reactions, asthmatic attacks, and anaphylactic shock in some people.
As of January 5, 2011, a new U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulation will require all foods and cosmetics containing cochineal to declare it on their ingredient labels, due to objections from people who have concerns for reasons of health, ethics or religion.
The water-soluble form of carmine is also used in some alcoholic drinks, such as Campari. The insoluble form is used in a wide variety of products, including some meat, sausages, processed poultry products, marinades, bakery products and toppings, cookies, desserts, icings, pie fillings, jams, preserves, gelatin desserts, juice beverages, some cheese and other dairy products, sauces, and sweets.
The pharmaceutical industry uses cochineal to color pills and ointments, and it is used in the cosmetics industry for hair- and skin-care products, lipsticks, face powders, rouges, and blushes.
According to one distributor of carmine, the product can be used in the following ways:
- Food Industry – Frozen fish, meat, etc.
- Beverage Industry – Soft drinks, fruit drinks, energy drinks, etc.
- Alcoholic Beverages – Products with low pH requiring red or orange tones
- Dairy Industry – Yogurts, ice cream and dairy based beverages
- Confections – Candy, fillings, syrups, chewing gum, etc.
- Fruit Preparations – Canned fruits such as cherries, Jams, Pulp, etc.
- Cosmetic Industry – Dispersions close to eye area, eye shadows, lipsticks, etc.
- Others – Ketchup, powdered drinks, dehydrated soups, canned soups, etc.
Carmine is also used in the manufacture of artificial flowers, paints and crimson ink. A bright red dye and the stain carmine used in microbiology is often made from the carmine extract.
Cochineal insects are soft-bodied, flat, oval-shaped scale insects, native to tropical and subtropical South America and Mexico. They live on cacti, feeding on the plant’s moisture and nutrients. The deep crimson dye is produced by the females and their babies (nymphs) to deter predation by other insects, as they cannot fly, and they remain immobile while feeding.
For commercial production of carmine dye, cochineal bugs are farmed for three months, then collected at ninety days old. According to one description:
“The insects are carefully brushed from the cacti… and placed into bags. The bags are taken to the production plant and there, the insects are then killed by immersion in hot water or by exposure to sunlight, steam or the heat of an oven. It is to be noted that the variance in appearance of commercial cochineal is caused by the different methods used during this process. It takes about 70,000 insects to make one pound (454 gm) of cochineal. The body of one cochineal is said to contain between 18-20% of carminic acid.
The part of the insect that contains the most carmine is the abdomen that houses the fertilized eggs of the cochineal. Once dried, a process begins whereby the abdomens and fertilized eggs are separated from the rest of the anatomical parts. These are then ground into a powder and cooked to extract the maximum amount of color. This cooked solution is filtered and put through special processes that cause all carmine particles to precipitate to the bottom of the cooking container. The liquid is removed and the bottom of the container is left with pure carmine.”
During production, various other substances can be used, including stannous chloride, citric acid, borax, or gelatin.
In the 15th century, carmine dye was used in Central America for coloring fabrics. In the late 19th century, after synthetic pigments and dyes had been invented, the production of natural dye gradually lessened.
However, as health fears over artificial food additives have increased, cochineal dyes are regaining popularity, making exploitation of the insect profitable again. As of 2005, Peru (the largest exporter) produced 200 tons of cochineal dye per year and the Canary Islands produced 20 tons per year. Chile and Mexico have also recently begun to export cochineal…
Quite aside from the health risks associated with the consumption of carmine, there’s something very concerning about the fact that we think nothing of crushing insects by the billions every year, for no reason other than that we like certain things to look a certain way. Is red coloring in food, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and fabric so important to us that we are willing to turn a blind eye to its origin?
Image: Madeleine Ball (Flickr)
Angel Flinn is Director of Outreach for Gentle World – a vegan intentional community and non-profit organization whose core purpose is to help build a more peaceful society, by educating the public about the reasons for being vegan , the benefits of vegan living, and how to go about making such a transition.
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