13 Awfully Disgusting Food Ingredients You've Probably Eaten Today The unusual red color that you see on your favorite smoothies, candies, juices, and dairy-based beverages such as strawberry milk is an animal-based product. It is a red dye obtained from a particular bug known as cochineal. The meat industry also has been adding carmine to make their products more visually enticing. Carmine imparts a characteristic crimson/pink color to the food or beverage, thereby making it look vibrant and attractive. So, how is carmine extracted from the insect? Firstly, the insect is dipped in hot water so that it dies. The insect stores a significant amount of carmine in the abdomen. So, the process involves crushing the abdomen and heating its contents at a very high temperature to remove the coloring agent (carmine). In case carmine is added to the food, it may be listed as E120, cochineal extract or hydrated aluminum chelate of carminic acid. Interestingly, carmine is also found in cosmetic products such as lipstick and perfumes.
Many argue that 'since insects contain substantial amount of proteins and vitamins, so what's the harm?' However, they forget that processed parts of insects (as found in carmine) do not provide any goodness of nutrition.