Thursday, December 16, 2010

Coming soon to a label near you

Way back in early 2009 I posted an advisory about carmine and cochineal, common colorants used in food stuffs and in make up--link below.
http://conversationsinklal.blogspot.com/2009/01/its-all-connected.html

A law, going into affect in 2011,which is right around the corner, requires that all products that use carmine and cochineal must list them by name on the label, rather than just calling them color additives. The reason? They are derived from insects. Yup, crushed bugs as beauty enhancements. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and cozy about the products that you use?

4 comments:

G6 said...

Yup, crushed bugs as beauty enhancements. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and cozy about the products that you use?

While the sentiment (and the halacha) is NOT lost on me, I can't help reminding you that we DO eat things like livers and tongues (at least I do), which don't sound incredibly palatable at first blush either ;) ......

abbasrantings.blogspot.com said...

healthier than artificial additives

Tuvi said...

Just cuz it's natural doesn't necessarily make it healthier for you Abba. The top poisons in the world are all from natural sources. Lots of people who are allergic to many of those natural items also. Insect allergies are fairly common too so those bug juices in our products could be the cause of allergies that people can't figure out the cause of because they never knew before about the bug extracts in the products.

Abba said...

TUVI:

"Just cuz it's natural doesn't necessarily make it healthier for you Abba. "

i'd take some extra bug protein (kashrus aside for the discussion)over artificial additives any day.

i'm well aware that natural isn't always better (this is a big problem with alterntive medicines, when "natural" is never better and often just plain dangerous), but is there data with regards specifcally to food products?