bugs in your frappucino?

cochineal bugs | photo: Zyance

Starbucks has recently come under fire by vegetarians.  It turns out their strawberry flavored drinks have been changed.  They're using a new ingredient...cochineal extract.  That picture on the left is cochineal bugs.  They're used to make food coloring. Only pregnant females are used; their outer casings are crushed and  processed into food dye, producing a deep red color.

Also referred to as carmine, this  coloring agent has been known to cause severe allergies including urticaria and asthma.  There have also been reported cases of anaphylaxis.

Because it is made from bugs, it is considered a natural food substance and some companies use it in place of petro-chemically derived artificial colors.  Also because it is made from bugs, vegetarians do not eat cochineal.  And I believe this ingredient is considered non-kosher.   However it is appearing in a wider and wider range of foods including yogurts, ice cream, candies, and some beverages.  Cochineal is also finding it's way into cosmetics as a coloring agent.

While I know there are many cultures that eat bugs as part of their diet, they are high in protein, research has not shown that these other edible bugs carry the same allergic potential as the cochineal bug.  I also find it very irresponsible for Starbucks, which advertises that it can made vegetarian friendly drinks, would change it's ingredients without notifying it's consumers.  Even those who are not vegetarian may prefer not to ingest this substance.  And why cochineal in the first place?  There are fruit and vegetable based sources for red coloring such as beets or raspberries which could have been used instead.

Don't want to eat bugs?  Another good reason to read the label.

praying mantis adventures

I'm so excited because there is a new crop of baby praying mantis in our neighborhood. The kids across the street were lucky enough to get a praying mantis egg casing. It just hatched revealing an enormous number of babies from the case. The kids let the mantises go in the garden and I'm hoping that a lot of them will survive to populate the area.

Praying mantises are great for the garden. They are carnivores, eating beetles, roaches, grasshoppers, even moths and moth larvae. All things that are very destructive to the garden. While they only live for one season if you're lucky enough a fully mature female will lay an egg casing in your garden and the cycle can start all over again.

As you can see from the picture (which I took, I'm so happy that one actually came out well), they are very small. They were less than 24 hours old when I took the picture and about the size of a grain of rice (if rice had long cricket-y legs that is).

Welcome to the neighborhood guys! Hope you find lots to eat.