# Are red M&M's colored with liceblood? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 3, 2007, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-red-m-ms-colored-with-liceblood/402632 "2007-05-03T16:34:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MostlyClueless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@MostlyClueless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MostlyClueless)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2007, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-red-m-ms-colored-with-liceblood/402632/1 "2007-05-03T16:34:26Z")
Yeah, pretty much what the title says. I heard some relative about it, and while it could be true, it seems slightly… fantastical. Snopes has nothing, so I turn to the dope. Cite? ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2007, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-red-m-ms-colored-with-liceblood/402632/2 "2007-05-03T16:36:04Z")
[QUOTE=MostlyClueless] Yeah, pretty much what the title says. I heard some relative about it, and while it could be true, it seems slightly.. fantastical. Snopes has nothing, so I turn to the dope. Cite? [/QUOTE] You’ve got strange relatives. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2007, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-red-m-ms-colored-with-liceblood/402632/3 "2007-05-03T16:36:51Z")
According to Unca Cecil, [No](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_118.html) ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2007, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-red-m-ms-colored-with-liceblood/402632/4 "2007-05-03T17:47:21Z")
“Lice blood” sounds to me like an overdramatic way of saying “[cochineal](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochineal)” (or carmine), rather than anything to do with the shellac. > [@](#): > > A deep crimson dye is extracted from the female cochineal insects. Cochineal is used to produce scarlet, orange and other red tints too. The colouring comes from carminic acid. Cochineal extract’s natural carminic-acid content is usually 19–22%. The insects are killed by immersion in hot water (after which they are dried) or by exposure to sunlight, steam, or the heat of an oven. Each method produces a different colour which results in the varied appearance of commercial cochineal. The insects must be dried to about 30 percent of their original body weight before they can be stored without decaying.It takes about 155,000 insects to make one kilogram of cochineal. Unfortunately the vending machine is out of M&M’s so I can’t check on this, but Googling suggests that they do contain cochineal in the UK - see [http://www.ciao.co.uk/M\_M\_s\_Crispy\_\_Review\_5281783](http://www.ciao.co.uk/M_M_s_Crispy__Review_5281783) It also appears that in the US, they use a dye called Red 40 to replace cochineal, but a US Doper would have to check the ingredients panel for that one. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2007, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-red-m-ms-colored-with-liceblood/402632/5 "2007-05-03T17:47:46Z")
Some red dyes, however, are indeed made from squished bugs. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2007, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-red-m-ms-colored-with-liceblood/402632/6 "2007-05-03T17:52:15Z")
[QUOTE=Zsofia] Some red dyes, however, are indeed made from squished bugs. [/QUOTE] Yes, as my mother once said to me to point out that “natural” is not always such a good selling point: “Hmm, no artificial colours. So it’ll be beetle juice then - 100% natural!” ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2007, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-red-m-ms-colored-with-liceblood/402632/7 "2007-05-03T18:24:39Z")
M&M’s don’t contain cochineal, or any other bug product, at least in the US. They’re kosher, and kosher food can’t have bugs or bug bits in them. They only became kosher about 12-13 years ago, and may have had cochineal in them before that. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2007, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-red-m-ms-colored-with-liceblood/402632/8 "2007-05-03T20:17:46Z")
If you do have problems with lice in your M&Ms, I suggest you call [these people](http://www.mandmpest.com.au/pest-info-rodents.html). ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-red-m-ms-colored-with-liceblood/402632/9 "2007-05-04T02:05:07Z")
Wait, don’t lice drink human blood? So wouldn’t lice blood actually be human blood? SOYLENT RED IS PEOPLE!!! ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-red-m-ms-colored-with-liceblood/402632/10 "2007-05-04T04:18:20Z")
Cochineal insects are also sometimes called “wood lice.” Hence, “lice” blood. The answer is therefore: Yes…sort of…for one definition of “lice”…not in the US, at least, anymore. Note that plenty of non-M&M foods do contain cochineal extract. Sailboat ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-red-m-ms-colored-with-liceblood/402632/11 "2007-05-04T10:54:00Z")
I still don’t have any M&M’s to hand, but I do have a tube of [Smarties](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smarties_%28Nestl%C3%A9%29) (the UK chocolates similar to M&M’s, not the fruit flavour candy sold in the US under that name), and the ingredients do include [carminic acid](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carminic_acid), which is the colouring extracted from cochineal. The packaging also states “No artifical colours”, so it is presumably actually extracted from the insects, rather than made synthetically. I am fairly sure that M&M’s also contain the same colouring in the UK, there not being a particularly big market for kosher food in the UK compared to the US. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-red-m-ms-colored-with-liceblood/402632/12 "2007-05-04T10:58:11Z")
One of my jobs was in 1993, with the world’s biggest cochineal producer, and IIRC at the time MnM’s did not include cochineal. It was already Red40, which is an artificial coloring. We sort of kept track of “red foodstuffs that contain Red40 vs our stuff” and why was that in each case (one of the RnD projects we had was coming up with a form of cochineal that would be stable in acidic drinks, for example). ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-red-m-ms-colored-with-liceblood/402632/13 "2007-05-04T11:13:30Z")
[QUOTE=Little Nemo] Wait, don’t lice drink human blood? So wouldn’t lice blood actually be human blood? SOYLENT RED IS PEOPLE!!! [/QUOTE] Cochineal bugs eat [cacti](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Cochinel_Zapotec_nests.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-red-m-ms-colored-with-liceblood/402632/14 "2007-05-04T11:58:48Z")
[QUOTE=Sailboat] Cochineal insects are also sometimes called “wood lice.” [/QUOTE] I was about to leap in and say this was wrong, but it’s not. You’re right. Wood lice, however are not to be confused with _woodlice_, which is a common name for the isopod crustaceans also known as sowbugs or pillbugs. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-red-m-ms-colored-with-liceblood/402632/15 "2007-05-04T12:04:09Z")
[QUOTE=Colophon] Cochineal bugs eat [cacti](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Cochinel_Zapotec_nests.jpg). [/QUOTE] Yup. I’ve seen a cochineal farm up in the hills of Lanzarote. When your topsoil is mostly sand and volcanic ash, you grow what you can. ---
**Author:** ![rivulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@rivulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rivulus)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-red-m-ms-colored-with-liceblood/402632/16 "2007-05-04T14:47:44Z")
[QUOTE=Colophon] I still don’t have any M&M’s to hand, but I do have a tube of [Smarties](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smarties_%28Nestl%C3%A9%29) (the UK chocolates similar to M&M’s, not the fruit flavour candy sold in the US under that name), and the ingredients do include [carminic acid](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carminic_acid), which is the colouring extracted from cochineal. The packaging also states “No artifical colours”, so it is presumably actually extracted from the insects, rather than made synthetically. [/QUOTE] “When you eat your Smarties, do you eat the red ones last?” Ummmm… I may just skip the red ones altogether now. (Do any Canadian dopers know if their red Smarties have carminic acid?) By the way, when hiking in Peru, our guide scraped a handful of bugs off a cactus, crushed them, and showed us the red dye. Kind of cool, really, just not particularly appetizing. ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-red-m-ms-colored-with-liceblood/402632/17 "2007-05-04T14:52:23Z")
[QUOTE=Malacandra] Yup. I’ve seen a cochineal farm up in the hills of Lanzarote. When your topsoil is mostly sand and volcanic ash, you grow what you can. [/QUOTE] So, can you get a job as a louse wrangler? Tris ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-red-m-ms-colored-with-liceblood/402632/18 "2007-05-04T15:27:40Z")
> [@](#): > > SOYLENT RED IS PEOPLE!!! 😃😃😃 I love the SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-red-m-ms-colored-with-liceblood/402632/19 "2007-05-04T15:33:18Z")
[QUOTE=Triskadecamus] So, can you get a job as a louse wrangler? [/QUOTE] Sure, but the pay is … well, you know. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-red-m-ms-colored-with-liceblood/402632/20 "2007-05-04T19:24:14Z")
[QUOTE=GilaB] M&M’s don’t contain cochineal, or any other bug product, at least in the US. They’re kosher, and kosher food can’t have bugs or bug bits in them. They only became kosher about 12-13 years ago, and may have had cochineal in them before that. [/QUOTE] How long ago did they start making the red M&Ms again? For a number of years they stopped making them because there was a scare about the health hazards of the some red food dye. The alleged health hazard was debunked, or something, and they started making the red ones again. Seems that it wasn’t all that many years ago. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-red-m-ms-colored-with-liceblood/402632.md?page=2)