Sunday, January 29, 2006

The blush you wear has coloring from....

Insects?The FDA is proposing new regulation on food maunfacturers to label the red or orange colorings, cochineal extract or carmine, on food packaging. Those two types of red colorings have been extracted from the ground bodies of an insect known since the time of the Aztecs.

Pretty gross you say?

The widespread use of the dyes in everything from yogurt to lipstick hasn't exactly been well-disclosed: The ingredients typically are listed as "color added" or "E120," the FDA said. Carmine puts the red in ice cream, strawberry milk, fake crab and lobster, fruit tail cherries, port wine cheese, lumpfish eggs and liqueurs like Campari, according to the FDA. Carmine is also used in lipstick, makeup base, eye shadow, eyeliners, nail polishes and baby products, the agency said. Meanwhile, cochineal extract shows up in fruit drinks, candy, yogurt and some processed foods.

And now you know the rest of the story.

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