Does anyone know what the ingredient "carmine" is made from?!
Does anyone know what the ingredient "carmine" is made from?
It is used in a lot of cosmetics and food.
Answers:
Carmine may be prepared from cochineal, by boiling dried insects in water to extract the carminic acid and then treating the clear solution with alum, cream of tartar, stannous chloride, or potassium hydrogen oxalate; the coloring and animal matters present in the liquid are thus precipitated. In the United States, Carmine is approved as dye for foodstuffs.
Carmine is not required by the FDA to be explicitly named in all ingredient lists, and may sometimes be represented under "natural coloring" or "added coloring."
I think it's crushed beetle shells. Bug parts.
Some red dyes are made from the cochineal beetle. These are usually labeled as cochineal, carmine, or carminic acid.
Carmine is literally made from dried, ground-up red beetles, and its coloring (bright red) is used in yogurt, juice drinks, candies, and a long list of other products, including many "natural" products.
crushed red bugs...everytime you kiss someone with red lipstick, you could be kissing a bug..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/carmine...