Food+coloring-Cochineal

Food coloring-Cochineal by, Tey Yi Shen

Oh my god, I found this!



As you see from the drawing above, **Cochineal** (//**Dactylopius coccus**//) is a type of insect. The insect produces [|carminic acid] that deters predation by other insects. Carminic acid, which occurs as 17-24% of the weight of the dry insects, can be extracted from the insect's body and eggs and mixed with aluminum or calcium salts to make carmine dye (also known as cochineal). Carmine is today primarily used as a food colouring and for cosmetics.

When used as a food additive the dye must be included on packaging labels.Sometimes carmine is labelled as [|//E120//].

A small number of people have been found to have allergies to carmine, ranging from mild cases of hives to [|atrial fibrillation] and [|anaphylactic shock], with 32 cases documented to date. Carmine has been found to cause asthma in some people. Cochineal is one of the colours that the Hyperactive Children's Support Group recommends be eliminated from the diet of hyperactive children. Natural carmine dye used in food and cosmetics can render the product unacceptable to vegetarian or vegan consumers, many Muslims consider carmine-containing food forbidden ([|haraam] ) because the dye is extracted from insects, and Jews also avoid food containing this additive. Cochineal is one of the few water-soluble colorants that resist degradation with time. It is one of the most light- and heat-stable and oxidation-resistant of all the natural colorants and is even more stable than many synthetic food colours. The water-soluble form is used in alcoholic drinks with calcium carmine; the insoluble form is used in a wide variety of products. Together with ammonium carmine they can be found in meat, sausages, processed poultry products (meat products cannot be coloured in the United States unless they are labeled as such),[|surimi], [|marinades] , alcoholic drinks, bakery products and toppings, cookies, desserts, icings, pie fillings, jams, preserves, gelatin desserts,juice beverages, varieties of cheddar cheese and other dairy products, sauces, and sweets. The average human consumes one to two drops of carminic acid each year with food.

 Ingredients: Water; Concentrated Juices of Apples Pears and Watermelons; [|Dextrin] ; Natural Flavors; Citric Acid; Kiwifruit Juice Concentrate; Orange Juice Concentrate; Strawberry Juice Concentrate;  [|Garcinia Cambogia Extract] ;  [|Cochineal] ;  [|L-Carnitine Fumarate] ;  [|Acesulfame Potassium] ; Sucralose;  [|Chromium Polynicotinate]  <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text1;">

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