Dried Pregnant Bugs?
Thursday, 7 June 2007 by Dr Maytel
"Ever squirm at those reality shows featuring innocent souls forced to snack down on plates of crunchy bugs? The sweet kids' favourite used to be tinted pink with the innocuous "beet red" colouring, but the recipe has been changed to contain "colour (120)". That 120 is cochineal, also known as carmine, and is derived from the dried bodies of pregnant scale insects (the yummy sounding Dactylopius coccus costa). What's even more misleading is that 120 is usually referred to as a "natural colour" - the logic being that insects are "natural". And, apparently, snack-a-licious".
Melbourne Age sums up how to avoid meat in the age of industrial food
More on the scale insect...hmmmmm, scale insect
Melbourne Age sums up how to avoid meat in the age of industrial food
More on the scale insect...hmmmmm, scale insect
