IT was quite a sight - I went back to work in the hospital just to find that the nurses are all there chattering about Starbucks drinks made from insect fragments. My first reaction to it was like...
Okay. Topic to write on.
Cochineal
Cochineal is a type of insect that feeds on cactus. It contains a compound known as carmine (wiki) which is usually used as its salt in product as a kind of red colouring. Historically it is produced in Spain and is extremely valuable. The value of cochineal fell much following the discovery of artificial red dyes in the previous century.
So why are we using cochineal?
In fact, this is likely to be the only reasonable red colouring for use in food. The other legal food red colouring these days is Red 40 (wiki) which is under attack[1]. The cochineal red coloring can be obtained in two forms, carmine, and cochineal extract.
Cochineal extract is prepared from a water-alcohol extraction of powdered, dried cochineal.Carmine on the other hand are further filtered and is more chemically pure.
Comments like "Are we eating insect fragments? - Oh I still remember there are quiet a few red fragments there when I had my strawberry frappucino - That must be the insect fragments" are everywhere[2]. These comments are of course factually wrong - if a industrial pulverizer can leave insects fragments alone then it wouldn't be called a pulverizer at all. And we are talking about powdery food additive which are freely soluble in water (and they cannot have insoluble components of more than 1% by weight (by UN standards).
Food standards with regard to insect fragments
To understand the ubiquity of insects in our common food, one must understand what standards are set there - FDA (of america) has set some ground rules for food in america (and those approved in america are usually allowed in Hong Kong - go figure). These are a few examples of "action level" of FDA[3] (i.e. they will accept the product if the count is below these...):
(1) Cinnamon, ground - 400 or more insect fragments per 50 gram
(2) Chocolate - 60 or more insect fragments per 100 grams
(3) Canned orange juice - 5 or more fly eggs per 250 ml
Can you imagine you accepted a can of orange juice with 4 fly eggs? I guess if these are acceptable, cochineal extract is just a mere mental inconvenience... Plus it is healthier than those artificial substitutes...
[1] http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2010/06/30/food-dyes-a-health-risk/
[2] "...不免令人聯想到，可能是被攪碎的蟲子翅膀、身體...", "...現在想想，難道這就是尚未被碾碎的蟲子翅膀或其他身體部分..." etc. Obtained from a google search on "胭脂蟲 翅膀 starbucks"
[3] http://www.fda.gov/food/guidancecomplianceregulatoryinformation/guidancedocuments/sanitation/ucm056174.htm
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