this post was submitted on 09 Jun 2023
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Today I learned

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TIL that cochineal extract, also known as carmine or Natural Red 4 is a food dye made from crushed up bugs. (www.livescience.com)
submitted 2 years ago by Wolfric82@beehaw.org to c/todayilearned@lemmy.ml
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It is used in Tropicana grapefruit juice and Dannin yogurt to name a couple big companies.

https://www.vegparadise.com/news13.html

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[–] OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Iirc it also (used to?) be used for Red Skittles

[–] Wolfric82@beehaw.org 2 points 2 years ago

It's kinda fascinating how widely used it is and no one really is aware

[–] Acetamide@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

For people in the EU: anything with E120 in the list of ingredients contains cochineal extract.

[–] Quereller@lemmy.one 1 points 2 years ago

Do you prefer natural or synthetic food dyes. Crude oil or cactus bugs that is.

[–] buhala@sopuli.xyz 1 points 2 years ago

The weird thing is it counts as vegan too!

[–] Brunbrun6766@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

Now look into shellac, mmm