You're Eating … What?

A guide to 7 sketchy additives that may be lurking in your food.

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You're Eating … What? // Strawberry yogurt (© Lenora Gim/Getty Images)

By Sally Wadyka for MSN Health & Fitness

Want some dead bugs with your dinner? Well, that's just one of the freaky ingredients involved in making some popular processed foods. And while all seven of these sound incredibly icky—though presumably used to help make your food tastier or look better—some additives are decidedly more disturbing than others. Here's what you're eating—which may inspire you to start contemplating those ingredient labels a lot more closely.

Carmine

According to the FDA, this red food coloring (also known as cochineal extract) is made from dried, ground bugs . The Dactylopius coccus costa insect is native to Peru and the Canary Islands, where it feeds on red berries. The berries accumulate in the females' stomachs and in their unhatched larvae—which is what gives the extract its red coloring. Carmine is one of the most widely used coloring agents, and food manufacturers routinely use it to turn foods shades of pink, red or purple. Chances are it's what makes the color of your strawberry yogurt or that cranberry drink look so appealing.

But the problem is that at the moment, you have no way of knowing if you're ingesting these little red bugs. Instead, the label will simply read, "artificial color" or "color added." But the Vegetarian Legal Action Network petitioned the FDA to disclose the presence of carmine, and in 2010, that requirement will go into effect. "But it will still be listed only as carmine or cochineal extract, with no mention of the ingredient's source," says Michael Jacobson, Ph.D., executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. "The onus will be on the consumer to know what carmine is, and that's asking a lot."

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1-10 of 19

Friday, April 10, 2009 7:58:01 AM

I never thought about Natural Flavors until my son was diagnosed with Celiac disease. He must eliminate ALL gluten from his diet. The hard part is when the ingredients list Natural Flavors, I must contact the company to see if their Natural Flavors contain gluten. It is very time consuming and frustrating. I wish the FDA would mandate better labeling. I am already contacting my congressmen about it. It is not just a choice, if my son eats gluten (sources wheat, barley and rye), he damages his intestines and he will be unable to get the nutrients from food.

n2soaring

Wednesday, March 04, 2009 2:29:57 PM

What kind of sensationalized reporting is this? I happen to know the truth about one of these issues and i can tell you that the reporter has totally misrepresented the facts.

Reporters! Phooey! They lie as much as politicians and CEO's!

MUSICALDIVA

Friday, February 27, 2009 12:29:01 PM

I'D RATHER EAT BUGS THAN CHEMICALS BUT WHY DO WE NEED FOOD TO BE UNNATURALLY BRIGHT. JUST GO WITH THE NATURAL COLOR PLEASE. WE'D ALL BE MORE HEALTHY FOR IT!

asdgjklsldkgjasldkgjsaldgj

Friday, February 27, 2009 11:53:11 AM

i am someone who is severely allergic to carmine, cochineal extract, etc. , and have been to the ER in anaphalactic shock from this additive many times over, so I CARE! if you can avoid an allergen it's easy to modify your lifestyle, but this stuff is in everything. i find it in salsa, cheese, yogurt, icecream, grapefruit juice, candy, makeup, and beleive it or not it's now in my pharmaceuticals too. zpac and skalaxsen among many others use it. ofcourse there it is called "b-rose liquid". is that to distract us from the fact that it is made from BUGS and not pretty rose petals? it is also know as sun red, natural red 3 etc, e120, and about 20 other names i found on a chemical database. very hard for me to not find this product somewhere. there is also a color called carmine blue, which is kind of violet. so now in addition to avoiding red, pink,orange, purple foods, creams, makeups, etc. i avoid blue now too. do we really need everything to be dyed in tecnicolor when people (although admittedly probably not too many) can die from these reactions. i ask the food and drug manufacturers is this coloring necessary? and even if it's only a few like me who are severely allergic...do any of the rest of you really have a problem with your yogurt being a little less pink? is it worth someone's death?

horizonforme

Friday, February 27, 2009 10:59:27 AM

well now, i would rather ingest bugs, than the massive chemicals, additives(which we can not pronounce)hormones, etc... on and on it goes.. I try to buy organic, and do when i can... yes it is more expensive and that does not make sense.. but when i have to eat something i am sure is not good for me... i ask God to bless it, and make it good for my body.. He/she knows the generation and climate in which we live, and well, i trust that my prayers take that pesticide, hormone, dye or whatever containment... and make it wholesome to me.

VagabondChef

Friday, February 27, 2009 7:41:38 AM

If I have to have dye in my food (why?) I'd rather have it dyed with bugs than chemicals. There's enough poison already in our food supply as it is, and when you throw Monsanto into the mix with its GMO, hormone additives, and GM corn, wheat, etc., it makes you want to eat weeds.

theskyis

Friday, February 27, 2009 3:16:36 AM

The real problem with our food is our not knowing what ingredients are in them without being a scientist. Why can't food companies write labels that clearly lists the ingredients that the common person can read and understand. I think a lot of people would rather eat bugs than some artificial substance that can give tumors or turn our children into adults at preteen ages! The only way for us to be safe and healthy is to grow our own foods and buy at local markets.

Bedtimes

Thursday, February 26, 2009 9:11:02 PM

Oh Barf Barf Barf BUGS, Bacteria, Seaweed, and Microbial Polysaccharides. How disgusting. That is if your a flaming Vegan or what ever they are called these days. (seaweed in dairy products) I think the writer must have consumed so much plant matter to have become susceptible to Black Rot of the brain.

Give me a Break! Does someone actually get paid to print this dribble? You are not covering anything really new, and by most of the comments so far seem the indicate , and you can quote me on this. Who Cares?

kimaya

Thursday, February 26, 2009 3:23:23 PM

ummm, eating bugs isn't unnatural. what do you think humans ate before they could hunt? or when a hunt was unsuccessful. plants, and BUGS. people still eat bugs around the world without problem. and eating seaweed is bad? what? the black rot virus/bacteria ok, that one's bad....in large doses. unless ur a vegetarian, animal derived stuff and bugs aren't problematic.

Texas Jennifer

#10

Thursday, February 26, 2009 2:29:08 PM

So what!?!?! Don't we have bigger things to worry about now? I think we should start being happy that we have such a diverse food supply & we can CHOOSE what we want to eat.

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