Weighing the pros and cons of bug-based food dyes
By Kristina Charania
Photos by Theresa B
In March, bug-derived cochineal extract was discovered as a dye used to color the coffee-giant’s Strawberry n’ Creme Frappucinos, Strawberry Smoothies, Blended Strawberry Lemonade, and various pink-dyed pastries in order to give it the homogenous rosy hue that real strawberries couldn’t replicate. This revelation served as a kick in the pants to both the company and their loyal (and incredibly enraged) vegan customers. Upon evaluation and mass media coverage of this messy situation, Starbucks U.S. president Cliff Burrows released a statement assuring customers that the company would phase out the extract in favour of lycopene, a natural tomato-based dye.
Before ridiculing Starbucks’s lack of common sense, one must realize that there are many legitimate defenses of their use of the extract.
While the idea of crushing 70,000 beetles and devouring the resulting pound of concentrated bug guts sounds like a fantastical lunch from a Tim Burton movie, cochineal extract is highly unlikely to cause your body any harm. The World Health Organization has reported cases of asthma and anaphylaxis (a fancy term for a lethal type of allergic reaction) resulting from the hidden allergens and leftover ammonia in ingested bug-derived dyes. However, cochineal extract cases are few and far in between, and rarely severe. Health Canada has hence approved the additive for use in commercial products ranging from lipsticks and eye shadows to candies, alcoholic drinks, dessert cherries and jams. If you’ve popped a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon lately and haven’t keeled over in a coughing fit, you should be in the clear.
If Starbucks were truly indifferent to their customers’ health, they would likely have turned to an artificial substance like Allura Red (also known as FD&C Red 40) to colour their foods instead of a bug-based dye. Allura Red cannot be easily dismissed as safe. According to a pamphlet from the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Allura Red has been directly connected to the development of hyperactivity in kids and proven to damage DNA in mice. P-Cresidine is a carcinogenic component of Allura Red, and has caused several types of carcinomas in both sexes of mice in controlled laboratory settings. This makes the dye harmful to people of all ages and can have permanent effects on the mental development of children, which is likely irreversible.
Let’s move on to the best news of all: the synthetic dye is derived from petroleum — that should raise your red flags — and used by major companies like Kraft, Heinz, and Coca Cola to dye their products. You would have to boycott tons of mass-produced red or pink foods in order to avoid the dye’s inescapable death grip on your organs.
Bottom line, folks: Starbucks may have lied to consumers and disappointed the vegan community, but they certainly picked the lesser evil by choosing a relatively harmless, natural dye over a synthetic additive that has the potential to affect everyone that consumes it. Avoiding the problems caused by synthetic dyes should certainly nullify the nastiness of sipping on bug juice, if not completely eradicate it.
And, on the bright side: throwing your Allura-dyed Maraschino cherries at people you dislike instead of eating them yourself is more fun anyway.
