Sunday, January 11, 2009

I Hear Bugs are High in Protein

I bookmarked this Well piece on Bugs in Your Food a while back because I thought it was an interesting question. Do we need to know if there might be traces of insects in our food?

The question is about cochineal and carmine, which are food dyes derived from insect bodies. The FDA has ruled that food containing this dye needs to state that ingredient on the label, but doesn't need to state its bugly origins. 

Personally, I'm inclined to say that what we don't know won't hurt us. Yeah, it sounds kind of gross, but so what if we get a little bug juice? Don't most people inhale a few bugs a year anyway? 

On the other hand, the article mentions allergic reactions--obviously a concern--and vegans would also like to know if there are living creature substances in an item, so perhaps it is an important bit of information.

On the third hand, if it's that important to certain specific people, might it not be OK to leave it up to them to know what cochineal and carmine are, without having to specify on every piece of packaging? 

On the fourth hand, we do see these general warnings of items 'processed in a facility that also processes wheat' or peanuts or tree nuts, while the lucky majority of people are not personally concerned with these ingredients, so this could be a public service along those same lines.

On the fifth hand, do we really have to use insects to make dye in this high-tech modern age? Don't we have cool chemicals for that?

On the sixth hand, bugs are natural and possibly organic, and who knows what chemicals are in those food coloring agents?--so maybe the insects are health food!

On balance...enh. I guess I don't have strong feelings either way. I'd just like to note that I'm not afraid of eating bugs. I have eaten fried grasshoppers. So there. (Not that I'm in a hurry to do it again.)

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