Shiny and red - we like to eat such foods because they shine so appetizingly.
That this effect is caused by lice is less appetizing.
The news that the use of insects in foods such as bread and biscuits will soon be allowed made waves.
However, very few people know that lice are already used in many foods - or what they excrete.
Sweets in particular contain these unappetizing ingredients.
Our list shows where crushed lice or their debris are in:
Insects in sweets: which foods contain lice?
In many sweets, but also in drinks, cosmetics and shampoos, lice are used to obtain a beautiful, bright red dye, reports HEIDELBERG24.
The paint is obtained from female cochineal lice (Nopal scale insects), also known as scarlet scale insects, which are crushed and boiled.
According to
the code check,
around 70,000 of the insects are needed for 450 grams of the red dye.
Codecheck
lists the products that contain the dye:
Trolli – Sour fireflies
Mentos - Chewing Gum - Full Fruit
Müller – Müllermilch cherry banana
Ehrmann – Strawberry Orchard
m&m's – Crisp
In order to make sure that you do not eat a product with lice as an ingredient, you should know the names behind which the coloring agent is hidden in the list of ingredients on the product: real carmine, carmine, carmine, cochineal, cochineal or carminic acid.
More often, however, you will discover the number codes: E 120 or CI 75470.
Insects in food: These creepy crawlies are (soon) in our food
Insects in food: These creepy crawlies are (soon) in our food
Louse excretion in food: Which sweets contain shellac?
Who doesn't know that shiny coating over some sweets that makes the little goodies look like they came straight from Willy Wonka's chocolate factory?
However, the production of this cover is not quite that magical.
On the contrary: the so-called shellac is a legacy of the lacquer scale insect.
The resin makes these foods shine, among other things:
Children's chocolate candies
Milka Colorful cocoa beans and other chocolate beans
chewing gum dragees
Shellac is a resin secreted by scale insects.
The resin is harvested from the trees, heated, cleaned and shaped, and then crushed and processed into shellac.
It is marked in the list of ingredients with the code number E 904. The lice excretions are also used in cosmetics such as nail polish or hairspray for the shine effect.
Insects in food: carmine red poses a risk of allergies
The red dye E 120 in particular has been heavily criticized: it can cause severe allergic reactions.
Vegans and vegetarians should be particularly careful: the carmine red is also used to color some meat substitutes, so strictly speaking such products are no longer vegetarian.
There is no need to be afraid of the fact that insects such as house crickets and grain mold beetles can now be processed unnoticed in food.
The insects must be clearly identified in the list of ingredients.
(resa)
List of rubrics: © Bernd Diekjobst/dpa/Mona Sauter/Heidelberg24