Starbucks strawberry Frappuccino dyed with crushed insects

[n2doc]

By Sarah Laskow

Here’s a Starbucks order to try out: a Strawberries & Creme Frappuccino with soy milk and a shot of crushed parasitic insects.

Actually, you don’t need to order the bugs — they come standard with the drink, in the form of the red dye used to give the frap that special strawberry color.

Yes, the insects are crushed, and yes, they are a commonly used natural food dye. Enjoyed a strawberry PopTart lately? Yeah, those use crushed critters for coloring, too.

So you may have already eaten your peck of bugs, and besides, insects are nutritious. Still, there’s obviously a bit of an “ew” factor here. It’s one thing to eat bugs knowingly, but when a gigantic corporation sticks them into a sugar bomb without asking, I think one is entitled to feel at least as miffed as when one’s parents snuck broccoli into a perfectly good Kraft macaroni-and-cheese dinner. There are some health impacts, too, for the factory workers who produce the dye.

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http://grist.org/list/starbucks-strawberry-frappuccino-dyed-with-crushed-beetles/

[backscatter712]

1. Extra protein!

There's an eww factor, but this doesn't really strike me as particularly harmful - human digestive systems are evolved to eat insects.

[enlightenment]

2. They've been doing this for - well, centuries.

I love it when somebody learns something new to them and then thinks they've discovered the secret to sliced bread.

[Ian David]

5. Sliced bread contains fungus farts. n/t

[enlightenment]

12. *Shock*

*horror*


I wonder what she would say if she found out about the bugs living on her eyelashes?

[kestrel91316]

36. YEAST farts.

[Ian David]

45. Yeast is a fungus. n/t

[kestrel91316]

46. I don't need a lecture on yeast and fungi, lol. I spent an

entire semester in undergrad getting one of my professors' laboratories in order and getting teaching cultures set up - for a graduate level mycology course. I am intimately familiar with vast varieties of both yeast and fungi. They are closely related, but in lab parlance are not called the same thing. Yeast are not referred to as fungi - they are called yeast.

While they are in the Kingdom Fungi, it is much too general a term to be useful when speaking of them. Yeast are only 1% of the fungal kingdom, and they are unicellular rather than multicellular. When we speak of fungi we are referring to the multicellular kind with mycelia and spores.

There is a weird and dangerous yeast called Cryptococcus neoformans which has both yeast and filamentous fungal forms, and for some bizarre reason now they have decided to give the filamentous form a different genus and species name even though it is the same organism. The filamentous form is too dangerous to work with in the lab so it has to be kept moist, and I had considerable training in how to accomplish that.

Anything else you'd like to know about these critters?

[Ian David]

47. Can I use the same cream on my balls that I use on my feet? n/t

[kestrel91316]

49. Follow all label directions and consult your physician (I know, that wasn't the answer you

were hoping for, lol).

Invest in more absorbent towels and stop using fabric softener on them!!

[Ian David]

50. Fabric softener? Really?

<snip>
· Avoid fabric softeners, bleaches, or harsh laundry detergents
http://www.medicinenet.com/jock_itch/page4.htm

[kestrel91316]

51. Fabric softener impedes water absorption by your terry towels. You DO want to get

campletely dry, right?

[Ian David]

52. That's why I sit naked in front of the computer for an hour after I shower. n/t

[kestrel91316]

55. Well that might be why you need that cream. Try drying off.

[Ilsa]

3. I guess it's the cochineal insect, but the article didnt say.

Artificial coloring is so unnecessary.

[BumRushDaShow]

6. Exactly.

The media loves tabloid headlines.

It's used in cosmetics too...

[RebelOne]

10. Yep, bat shit is used in mascara. n/t

[Ian David]

13. Whale vomit is used in perfume. n/t

[RebelOne]

21. It is called Ambergris. n/t

[Ian David]

22. Everyday one trivia la la la

[jmowreader]

26. Actually, it's the DNA of aborted fetuses

The chemical is "guanine," which is one of the four nucleobases in DNA. It makes your eyelashes all sparkly and shit.

They actually get the guanine used in makeup from fish scales, but let's start this internet meme that mascara has "dead babies" in it and see what happens...

[Ian David]

4. It's not the WHOLE insect. Just the SHELL. And lots of things are dyed that way.

But it's NATURAL.

And EVERYTHING that's natural is also safe, right?

In any case, we drink barley that's been partially digested by fungus, modified mucus secretions from cows, we eat bee vomit and microscopic LIVE animals suspended in partially digested modified cow mucous secretions... and we're going to be squeamish about drinking beetle shell extract?

[laundry_queen]

53. LOL no kidding.

And I hate bugs. I mean HATE. And fear. Not rational but there it is. Yet this doesn't bother me as much as the microscopic images of mites all over human skin. At least these beatles are dead. And they're probably better for you than the chemical crap normally used to colour sugary drinks.

[MineralMan]

7. So? Cochineal coloring has been used in foods forever.

If you're a strict vegan, just order something that isn't red or pink. Problem solved.

Shh...don't tell anyone, but the cochineal beetle is not endangered in any way. In fact, they're raised by the millions to make this dye.

Here's the little bugger:



And here's a bunch of them, being raised on cactus in Mexico:

[Lone_Star_Dem]

25. The top pic is a June Beetle (Coleoptera)

Cochineal are a soft bodied sap sucking insect. The ones the dye are made from are the females and they're wingless. They just sit on my cactus making white waxy fuzz, and sucking them dry. Until I see them there, that is. Then I scrape them off with lots of long twigs. Doing this always creates a garish mess resembling a B horror flick. Nasty, but a necessary process to keep my ornamental prickly pears alive.

[HiPointDem]

40. wow, cochineal farming. i didn't know that.

[Dokkie]

8. I used to eat fried termites as a kid

and yes they did taste like chicken. Nothing to see here

[craigmatic]

9. They say they're in M and M's too.

[Tanelorn]

11. Once again someone dissesw broccoli.

Wasn't the forced eating of broccoli used as a negative by a SC judge in the Affordable Health Care debate.

Sorry broccoli farmers. Thanks for your work in providing a nutritious vegetable

[jberryhill]

16. Broccoli comes right out of the dirt!

[Texasgal]

14. It's funny..

We humans eat alot of bugs without knowing it!

[jberryhill]

15. So?

I have to believe people are so out of touch with perfectly normal stuff that reality is just too much for them to handle.

The use of certain insect shells for pigments is ANCIENT. People have been using insec shells for colorings as long as there has been civilization itself.

[Alenne]

17. If you eat leafy greens, broccoli

Or a lot of other fruits and vegetables, you have probably eaten an insect or two. What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

28. I read once that peanut butter and grains have the highest percentage of insect fragments...

of the commonly eaten foods in America. This was years ago, so I'm not sure if that's still true.

[Nikia]

18. It's either that or artificial color

Isn't "natural" supposed to be better?

[Mosby]

54. there are other natural red food colorings

Red beets, purple sweet potato are a couple.

[RebelOne]

19. Mascara is made from guano (bat shit). n/t

[tammywammy]

31. ...

http://www.snopes.com/business/secret/mascara.asp

[johnd83]

20. Historically bugs have been eaten by people in many cultures

The fact we don't eat them now doesn't make them somehow poisonous or unhealthy. In many ways our homogenous western diet is bad for us. It doesn't provide the range of nutrients that may come from things like bugs.

[nadinbrzezinski]

23. Send the author to a working industrial farm

I guarantee a vegan at the end. Not that vegans are bad. Heck these days I am eating far less meat than I used to...but serious. This strikes me of out f touch with reality.

By the way no thanks. Not due to insects. Don't need 500 or so empty calories.

[d_r]

24. wait until they find out

about peanut butter.

Oh and I heard there bits of dead bird in chicken nuggets.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

27. Good I say!

The more of those evil sap sucking vermin are used for dye, the fewer there will be to suck my cactus dry!

Yeah, I know they're farmed for the dye, but at least it's something I can threaten the vermin with.

[slampoet]

29. "There are two kinds of people, those the KNOWINGLY eat bugs........."

"and those that don't know they eat bugs."


- A friend of mine who promotes Entomophage cooking.


ANYONE who prefers organic produce is eating more bugs than those that don't. Also a lot of the so called vegetarian supplements are derived from crushed insects. Frankly i don't know why Yogurt is considered vegetarian and insects are not. Insects aren't animals, they are invertebrates. But the are tons of people out there who think fish are okay but bugs aren't.

[Odin2005]

33. Invertabrates aren't animals? Huh???

[dionysus]

39. insects aren't animals. they're insects. hence their own name ;)

[Odin2005]

42. Basic Biology FAIL!!!

Insects are a class of the phylum Arthropoda in the Kingdom Animalia.

[dionysus]

43. you win. i admit i don't remember HS biology 17 years after the last class i took

[Major Nikon]

30. Most of the world's population eat bugs

Humans became humans while eating bugs. The ancient Romans and Greeks happily ate bugs. The Old Testament talks about eating bugs. It's pretty safe to say that the vast majority of humans ate bugs throughout the history of humanity. If humans hadn't eaten bugs there probably would be no humans, and if we had not continued to eat bugs we certainly wouldn't be where we are today.

Insects are far more sustainable than just about any other food source. They convert biomass to protein much more efficiently. The same amount of feed will produce about 5 times more insects than beef, by weight, yet insects contain about 3 times more protein and far less fat.

The aversion to eating bugs is just a cultural thing, and not even a smart cultural thing at that.

[Odin2005]

32. They used to get purple dye from snails.

[ljm2002]

34. It's cochineal, right?

This has been a traditional red dye for many centuries in Central and South America. I used to use it as a natural dye for wool. It produces a wonderful red color, more towards the blue than the yellow, which is unusual for natural red dyes. It seems to me it would be preferable to an artificial chemical dye. But that's just me.

[emilyg]

35. I'm sorry I read this - would

prefer not knowing.

[PavePusher]

56. Willful ignorance never solves anything. n/t

[knitter4democracy]

37. Same with anything dyed red, including clothing.

Cochineal is the oldest form of a true red dye (madder is close but not as vibrant), and it's been used for centuries now. In all reality, natural dyes (for food or for fabrics) are all kind of icky if you learn the process. It's about creating a chemical change, and the ways we have to do that aren't always pleasant.

The only people who need to worry about it are vegans, I suppose.

[Monk06]

38. Motor cyclists eat bugs all the time. Unless they ride a ricer.

[bart95]

41. no, my windshield eats thm

used to think they didnt look cool

but now i think they're he only way to go

[Monk06]

44. Well windshields are cool on full dressers. Especially old Electraglides.

[lib_wit_it]

48. Thanks to all the info in this OP and the replies, I ought to be dropping a few unneeded pounds.

I know it's a ridiculous, purely cultural bias, but the thought of eating bugs just turns my stomach. Then again, any time I read about what's in hot dogs, I swear them off and that holds for a few days, at least.

Being from Maryland, my family and I have always enjoyed hard-shell crab feasts. Once, at a family gathering, a friend of the family stopped by and commented how disgusting a scene we presented sitting around a picnic table strewn with the poor steamed-to-death creatures themselves and the ravaged remains of the ones we'd already picked clean.

Yeah, I know. Just writing that make me nauseated. Makes me think I'll never eat them again.

But I will.