From Seattle Pi:Food and cosmetic labels may soon be required to list the presence of widely used red colorings made from insects, but will not have to disclose the dyes' origins, according to a proposed rule made public Friday.
The Food and Drug Administration has proposed requiring that manufacturers flag the presence of cochineal extract and carmine in their products. The red colorings are extracted from the ground bodies of an insect exploited since the time of the Aztecs.
The proposed rule comes in response to reports of severe allergic reactions to the colorings, the regulatory agency said. A 1998 petition by the Center for Science in the Public Interest asked that the FDA take action.
Carmine is used in ice cream, strawberry milk, fake crab and lobster, fruit cocktail cherries, port wine cheese, lumpfish eggs and liqueurs like Campari, according to the FDA. Carmine's also used in lipstick, makeup base, eye shadow, eyeliners, nail polishes and baby products, the agency said.
Cochineal extract is used in fruit drinks, candy, yogurt and some processed foods.
Cochineal extract has long been made from the dried and ground female bodies of an insect called Dactylopius coccus costa. Indians living in pre-Columbian Mexico were the first to recognize the cactus-sucking insect could be used as a source of dye.
Read more here.
Medicine Tag
Health Tag
No comments:
Post a Comment