the carminic acid to be used to make the aqueous solution of step ( i ) shall preferably be from a pure carminic acid composition . a “ pure carminic acid composition ” denotes herein a highly purified cochineal extract solution . preferably it comprises from 90 to 99 % carminic acid ( dry weight ) and is preferably substantially free of dactylopius coccus costa insect proteins . the term “ substantially free of dactylopius coccus costa insect proteins ” denotes herein that it is not detectable by a sds - page analysis . a suitable sds - page analysis is given in example 1 . a pure carminic acid composition may be made in a number of routine ways e . g . based on methods that generally use suitable adsorption treatments , ion exchange treatments , acid treatments and / or membrane treatments . commercially available pure carminic acid compositions include a water - soluble cochineal powder from chr . hansen , a / s ( denmark ) or similar commercially available products from e . g . the companies pronex ( peru ) or sensient . a pure carminic acid composition may be made by the proteolysis - based method described in us2002 / 0058016 . the not dactylopius coccus costa insect proteins used to make the aqueous solution of step ( i ) shall preferably be from a protein composition obtained from a source that is acceptable for the food industry and / or pharmaceutically acceptable . for example , the proteins should preferably not be based on a composition of proteins obtained from e . g . a snake known to be toxic for e . g . humans . it should furthermore preferably be from a source known to cause no or only acceptable allergy related problems . the term “ not dactylopius coccus costa insect proteins ” used to make the aqueous solution of step ( i ) globally denotes herein peptides , amino acids , proteins or mixtures thereof . examples of suitable protein compositions are based on plant proteins such as soya proteins and potato proteins . preferably , the proteins are milk proteins such a cow milk proteins . preferably , the milk proteins are obtained from a milk - based hydrolysate such as a whey hydrolysate . suitable commercially available whey hydrolysate may be obtained from commercial dairy companies . this is particularly relevant when the carminic acid color is to be used in a milk based food product . preferably , substantially all of the not dactylopius coccus costa insect proteins have a molecular weight ( mw ) below 6 , 000 da , more preferably below 4 , 000 da and even more preferably below 3 , 000 da . it is implicit in the process as described herein that when the proteins of step ( i ) have a certain mw then the resulting lake of step ( ii ) will also get a corresponding protein mw composition . for instance , if substantially all of the proteins of step ( i ) have a molecular weight ( mw ) below 6 , 000 da then substantially all of the proteins in the lake , of step ( ii ) will have a molecular weight ( mw ) below 6 , 000 da . the term “ substantially all of the proteins have a molecular weight ( mw ) below [ a number ] da ” denotes herein that proteins with a greater mw than indicated are not detectable by a sds - page analysis . a suitable sds - page analysis is given in example 1 . an aqueous solution may preferably be prepared simply by adding a suitable protein composition ( e . g . in powder form ) to a pure carminic acid solution or simply by adding e . g . pure carminic acid ( e . g . in powder form ) to a solution comprising a suitable protein composition . in other words , simply by mixing a suitable protein composition with a suitable pure carminic acid composition . in the aqueous solution of step ( i ) of the first aspect it is preferred that the ratio carminic acid / not dactylopius coccus costa insect proteins ( g / l ) is less than 1 . the present inventors have identified that if the ratio is greater than 1 the solution has a tendency to gel . see table of working example 1 herein . preferably , the ratio carminic acid / not dactylopius coccus costa insect proteins ( g / l ) is from 0 . 4 to 0 . 9 , more preferably from 0 . 5 to 0 . 8 and most preferably from 0 . 5 to 0 . 7 . before the proteins are added to the aqueous solution , the ph of the solution shall preferably be adjusted to a ph from 5 to 7 , more preferably around ph 6 . preferably , the aqueous media is water , preferably distilled water . preferably , the aqueous solution is substantially free of dactylopius coccus costa insect proteins . preferably , the aqueous solution comprises from 1 to 10 % carminic acid and from 1 . 5 to 10 % not dactylopius coccus costa insect proteins , more preferably the aqueous solution comprises from 2 to 7 % carminic acid and from 3 to 8 % not dactylopius coccus costa insect proteins , even more preferably the aqueous solution comprises from 3 to 5 % carminic acid and from 4 to 6 % not dactylopius coccus costa insect proteins . the carminic acid / protein aqueous solution is treated with the aluminum and calcium compound under suitable conditions to produce the carminic acid lake . the skilled person generally knows suitable conditions to make a lake . however , the present inventors have analyzed this in detail and the preferred conditions are explained below . treatment of the aqueous solution with an aluminum and calcium compound may be performed in different ways . it may e . g . be performed by adding the aluminum and calcium to a solution only comprising the proteins and then thereafter by adding the carminic acids to the solution . however , it is preferred to first make an aqueous solution comprising both the carminic acid and the proteins and then add the aluminum and calcium compound to this solution . without being limited by theory , it is believed to be important for optimal lake formation that the aluminum and calcium are added to a solution already comprising both the carminic acid and the proteins . in fact this is different to the suggestion in working example 2 of us2002 / 0058016 , where a carminic acid aluminum solution is first made and it is then suggested to add low mw proteins to this solution . it is preferred to first add the aluminum and then wait for a suitable time before the calcium is added to the aqueous solution . a suitable time is around from 30 seconds to 1 hour , preferably from 1 minute to 15 minutes . surprisingly , the present inventors have identified that if calcium is added to the carminic acid / protein solution first , then there is a risk of unwanted “ black spots ” developing in the final lake . the black spots are believed to be calcium carminate . there are created far less “ black spots ” when aluminum is added first to the carminic acid / protein aqueous solution . see working example 2 herein for further details . preferably , the aqueous solution is treated with from 1 g aluminum / l solution to 20 g aluminum / l solution and from 1 g calcium / l solution to 20 g calcium / l solution . the skilled person knows how to optimize this in relation to the desired color of interest . a suitable aluminum compound is aluminum sulphate . preferably the aluminum compound is aik ( so 4 ) 2 * 12 h 2 o . a suitable calcium compound is calcium carbonate or calcium chloride . preferably the calcium compound is ( ch3coo ) 2 ca * h 2 o . during the treatment of the carminic acid / protein aqueous solution with the aluminum and / or calcium compound it is preferred to adjust the ph to a value from 3 to 7 in order to produce the carminic acid lake . preferably , the ph is adjusted to a value from 4 to 6 and more preferably adjusted to a ph value from 4 . 5 to 5 . 5 . the adjustment of the ph may be done after the carminic acid / proteins has been combined with the salts . however , preferably the adjustment is done before addition of salts . preferably the carminic acid / protein aqueous solution is treated with the aluminum and calcium compound under following suitable conditions to produce the carminic acid lake : time period : 15 minutes to 2 hours , more preferably from 30 minutes to 60 minutes temperature : from 80 ° c . to 99 ° c ., more preferably from 92 ° c . to 97 ° c . the final composition of the produced carminic acid lake of step ( ii ) relates to the initial composition of the aqueous solution of step ( i ). the preferred carminic acid / protein contents of the aqueous solution are given above . corresponding preferred compositions of the produced carminic acid lake of step ( ii ) are wherein the lake comprises from 55 to 75 % carminic acid ( dry weight ) and from 15 to 25 % proteins ( dry weight ), more preferably wherein the lake comprises from 62 to 72 % carminic acid ( dry weight ) and from 18 to 22 % proteins ( dry weight ). of course the amount of carminic acid and proteins in the lake cannot be more than 100 %. actually , the sum will generally be around 90 % since the lake will comprise other material such as the salts used to produce the lake . accordingly , if the lake comprises 75 % carminic acid ( dry weight ) then it would normally not have more than 15 % proteins ( dry weight ). a preferred method to determine the amounts of carminic acid is a known standard method described by fao / who : document from 44 th session of the jecfa committee in 1995 and food chemical codex , second edition ( fccii ). in commission directive 94 / 45 / ec from july 1995 , official journal of the european communities no . l 226 , p . 9 , it is described that the proper diluted color product e - 120 has a maximum at 494 nm . a preferred method to determine the amount of proteins is the known kjeldahl method and / or by amino acid analysis . after the carminic acid lake of step ( ii ) is produced it is routine to include adequate subsequent steps . these may include a step of filtering the carminic acid lake and / or a step of drying the carminic acid lake to get a dried carminic acid lake . these steps are routine for the skilled persons and reference is made to the reference textbook given above . in order to use the carminic acid lake , as described herein , it should be converted into a suitable color composition . the term color composition should be understood broadly . depending on the final needs it may be the carminic acid lake as such or maybe the lake after filtering and / or drying . alternatively , the lake may be converted into a suitable carmine solution or water - soluble carmine ( powder ). however , it may also be a color composition where a suitable carrier or additive which is food sanitation - wise or pharmaceutically acceptable has been added . the specific choice of carrier or additive will depend on the final use , e . g . in food or pharmaceuticals , and the skilled person may routinely select adequate carriers or additives . for further details , see us2002 / 0058016 . as said above , the color composition may be added to food products , sweets , confectionary , beverages , pharmaceuticals or cosmetics . the term food product denotes herein both food and feed products . preferably it is food products . preferred food products include dairy products such as yogurt or meat . a further relevant feature of the color composition is the strength of the color . the color of the carminic acid may e . g . be red and the color composition may be made with different strength of e . g . red in order to get an adequate color in the final e . g . food product . starting from the carminic acid lake , as described herein , it is routine work to make adequate steps to get a color composition with required color strength . the color composition may be encapsulated , using conventional micro encapsulation techniques suitable for food products , for example , as described in wo97 / 26803 ( chr . hansen a / s ), by encapsulation in gum arabic . pure carminic acid : commercially available carminic acid obtained from purified cochineal extract ( dactylopius coccus costa ). minimum around 90 % carminic acid . protein composition : commercial whey protein hydrolysate suitable as protein source in infant formulas with reduced allergen content . substantially all of the proteins have a molecular weight ( mw ) below 6 , 000 da . elisa analysis : antigenecity tested by one site immunometic assay elisa with polyclonal antibodies raised on whey protein concentrate solvent tris buffer ph 8 ( 20 g tris / 1 , 000 ml demi water , ph adjusted with conc . hcl ) the lakes of carmine were added buffer solution so that all samples contained the same amount carminic acid / ml corresponding to 1 . 5 g / l of a 46 . 56 % c . a . lake . marker 12 or sea blue is applied as the protein size indicator ( mw ) 1m dl - dithiothreitol ( dtt ): 20 mg dtt solution in 130 μl mqw volume added to the gel : mark 12 5 μl , sea blue 7 μl , carmine samples 10 μl nupage novex high performance pre - cast gel 4 - 12 % bis - tris are stained by cromassie blue and / or silver this example discloses examples of preparation of al — ca carmine lake with carminic acid and whey hydrolysate . an amount of 21 g carminic acid was dissolved in 500 ml water and in this carmine solution 33 g peptide was dissolved . ph was adjusted to 5 and the temperature was raised to 85 - 95 ° c . then 8 g aik ( so 4 ) 2 * 12h 2 o was dissolved in 50 ml water and added to the solution and then 8 . 2 g ( ch 3 coo ) 2 ca * h 2 o was dissolved in 50 ml water and added to the solution . after 45 minutes 70 - 98 % of the carminic acid in the solution was converted to carmine lake , which precipitated from the solution . the carmine lake was separated from the solution , dried and analyzed . the resulting carmine lakes had a carminic acid content of 65 - 75 % and a protein content of 18 - 22 %. none of the proteins in the lakes , detectable in the sds - page analysis , were bigger than 3 , 000 da . the resulting carmine lakes have bright red color shades and were applicable as cochineal protein based carmine lakes for making carmine solutions and water - soluble carmine powders . ( 1 ) that optimal carminic acid yields are obtained when the aqueous solution comprises from 3 % to 5 % carminic acid and from 4 % to 7 % of whey protein hydrolysate ; ( 2 ) when the amount of protein is increased , within the ranges as described herein , the yield is improved ; ( 3 ) that the ratio carminic acid / added proteins shall be less than 1 to avoid gelling and thereby impossible processing . furthermore , the preferred ratio is from 0 . 5 to 0 . 8 and most preferably around 0 . 6 . this example discloses examples of al — ca carmine lake preparation with carminic acid and whey hydrolysate . an amount of 21 g carminic acid was dissolved in 500 ml water and in this carmine solution 33 g peptide was dissolved . ph was adjusted to 5 and the temperature was raised to 85 - 95 ° c . then 8 g ( ch 3 coo ) 2 ca * h 2 o was dissolved in 50 ml water and added to the solution and then 8 . 2 g aik ( so 4 ) 2 * 12h 2 o was dissolved in 50 ml water and added to the solution . after 45 minutes 70 - 98 % of the carminic acid in the solution had been converted to carmine lake , which precipitated from the solution . the carmine lake was separated from the solution , dried and analyzed . visible black spots in the lake were identified . the black spots were most likely calcium carminate , which had not undergone the change from calcium carminate to aluminum - calcium carmine lake . by adding the aik ( so 4 ) 2 * 12h 2 o solution first , it is believed , that the aluminum and peptide attach to the carminic acid and makes it difficult / impossible for the calcium to form calcium carminate before it forms aluminum - calcium carmine lake . the result in example 2 demonstrates that it is important to first add the aluminum , wait for a period and then add the calcium in order to get less “ black spots ”.