# Is Some Candy Coated With Beetle Juice? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [May 30, 2006, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-some-candy-coated-with-beetle-juice/358722 "2006-05-30T12:13:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-some-candy-coated-with-beetle-juice/358722/1 "2006-05-30T12:13:53Z")
_Sigh_ Cecil - from [Is Some Candy Coated With Beetle Juice](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_118.html) [quote} ONE MORE FOR THE ICK LIST To the Teeming Millions: Pursuant to our recent disquisition on insect extracts in candy, a reader has sent us a newsletter from the Chicago Rabbinical Council, a kosher certifying agency. I quote: “Due to changes in government regulations, virtually every processor of fruit cocktail is using a non-kosher artificial coloring in the cherries. This coloring is called carmine and is derived from the dried bodies of the cochineal insect.” (Actually cochineal is a red dye made from the bug Dactylopius coccus.) Ooh, gross, some will say. But my attitude is, I’ll swallow anything, as long as they don’t make me eat it till it’s dead.[/quote] That is not _artificial_ dye, it is one of the most natural dyes. Is not made in a lab, is heat treated cochineals crushed and extracted in water and the resulting pigment dried and reground into powder. \ This little [“cottage industry”](http://www.wildflavors.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.viewPage&page_id=E0EB7A7B-5004-D739-A5FAE84FEA76CA1C) is a major moneymaker for some areas of Peru. Or if nothing else, think of it as part of your USDA recommended daily dose of animal parts. [though honestly, is it any grosser than barely purified bee vomit (honey) ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-some-candy-coated-with-beetle-juice/358722/2 "2006-05-30T12:57:03Z")
To be fair, neither Cecil nor the Chicago Rabbinical Council call it “artificial dye;” the council refers to “artificial coloring,” which I take to mean that it’s not the natural color of the cherries. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-some-candy-coated-with-beetle-juice/358722/3 "2006-05-30T13:04:35Z")
Isn’t carmine the coloring used in the alcoholic drink Campari, as well? ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-some-candy-coated-with-beetle-juice/358722/4 "2006-05-30T15:24:04Z")
Yes. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-some-candy-coated-with-beetle-juice/358722/5 "2006-05-30T16:07:43Z")
> [@Chicago Rabbinical Council via C. Adams](#): > > "Due to changes in government regulations, virtually every processor of fruit cocktail is using a non-kosher artificial coloring in the cherries. Does anyone else sense a certain tart presumptuousness in the above? “Virtually every” processor? And whence this bald assumption that fruit cocktail necessarily contains cherries? Why not just say: “Due to changes in government regulations, substantially all processed fruit cocktail now contains cherries with a non-kosher artifical coloring.” Or is a tone of subtly muted outrage appropriate? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-some-candy-coated-with-beetle-juice/358722/6 "2006-05-30T16:28:30Z")
> [@Beware of Doug](#): > > And whence this bald assumption that fruit cocktail necessarily contains cherries? > > Why not just say: > “Due to changes in government regulations, substantially all processed fruit cocktail now contains cherries with a non-kosher artifical coloring.” Doesn’t your statement make the same assumption? “substantially all processed fruit cocktail now contains cherries” I wonder if those who find cochineal bugs icky feel the same about [bee vomit](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_040.html). ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2006, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-some-candy-coated-with-beetle-juice/358722/7 "2006-05-31T11:08:13Z")
Carmine (which in the factory where I worked was extracted using isopropyl alcohol, not water) is the most common color in lipstick and blush, too. It’s pretty much the only natural red coloring for food. And hey, the bugs get these enormous farms of the food they love! There have been attempts to make carmine-based colors in other colors, by complexing it with different metals, but I don’t know what became of that. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-some-candy-coated-with-beetle-juice/358722/8 "2006-06-02T19:48:10Z")
So, what about these candies I’m hearing about coated with rye gel?