red dye in food comes from the insect cochineal.
red dye in food comes from the insect cochineal.
what insect does red dye in food come from?
cochineal
kermes is a red dye derived from the dried bodies of the females of a scale insect in the genus "kermes", primarily "kermes vermilio". the "kermes" insects are native in the mediterranean region and live on the sap of the kermes oak. they were used as a red dye by the ancient greeks and romans. the kermes dye is a rich red, a crimson. it has good colour fastness in silk and wool. it was much esteemed in the medieval era for dyeing silk and wool, particularly scarlet cloth. post-medievally it was replaced by other red dyes, starting with cochineal.
kermes (dye)
in 1996, china banned food manufacturers from using sudan i red dye to color their products. china followed a number of other developed nations in banning the dye due to its links to cancer and other negative health effects. however, officials in the general administration of quality supervision, inspection and quarantine, the state bureau of industry and commerce, and the state food and drug administration discovered in 2005 that sudan i was being used in food in many major chinese cities. in beijing, the heinz company added the red dye to chili sauce; in guangdong, zhejiang, hunan, and fujian, the red dye was discovered in vegetables and noodles. kentucky fried chicken (kfc) used the red dye in its 1,200 restaurants, and medicine in shanghai also contained sudan i.
food safety incidents in china