Introduction: How to Eat Fewer Insects
Supposing that you're less than omnivorous, you may not always be in the mood to eat insects. You might be vegetarian, or your religion tells you that you shouldn't eat insects, or maybe you're just on a strict non-bug-eating diet. Here are a couple of simple hints to help you identify foods that contain bugs, illustrated with a few common supermarket candy items.
Step 1: Introduction
This a moth. Don't eat it.
It seems that some people will eat just about anything. If you are of the highly omnivorous persuasion, congratulations. This story won't be any help at all, so please instead read the instructables about eating cute animals of some sort.
Let's be perfectly clear about this: this instructable is titled "How to eat fewer insects." It is meant to help you eat fewer (not zero) insects IF that is your choice. We do not make any judgements or claims about whether, when, or how many insects you should eat. Yes, lots of people like to eat insects, and lots of people don't like to eat insects. However, please keep in mind that it is not the topic under discussion here
If you're still interested, let's look at a box of candy in the next step.
Step 2: The Big Secret: Look at the Ingredients.
Just about every kid raised in the US in the last thirty years has eaten these. And yet, just look at what's in the list of ingredients: Carmine. Carmine is a pigment produced by cochineal insects, which are ground up and purified to produce the pigment. A less purified form of the pigment, called cochineal extract, is also sometimes found in foods.
Carmine, also called carminic acid, is a powerful red pigment that is found in a wide assortment of places where crushed insects (presumably) do not belong: Yoplait strawberry yogurt, Tropicana grapefruit juice, Campari, maraschino cherries, and it might make you question just why pink lemonade needs to be pink.
Because carmine is a "natural" (not synthetic) additive, government regulations on its labeling are lax, which is quite surprising since some people may suffer severe anaphylactic shock upon eating these or other insects. Not all products containing carmine label it at all, some merely say "added color," "natural color" or (also surprisingly) "artificial color."
Step 3: Another Lovely Euphemism
Confectioner's glaze, food glaze, resinous glaze, and pharmaceutical glaze are pretty names for shellac, the excretion of a certain type of beetle. While perhaps that's not so very different from honey, the difference is that shellac is harvested beetles-and-all. (Yum!)
(Confusing the issue is that a corn protein, zein, may also be labeled as "Confectioner's glaze." While I've seen a great many companies that make and use shellac-based confectioner's glaze, I have yet to see any that use a zein base. If you know of any examples of zein-based confectioner's glaze, please leave it as a comment!)
Step 4: The Best of Both Worlds
I have fond memories of eating Good & Plenty as a kid; however, those were somewhat colored (pink?) by recently noticing what's on the label: carmine and shellac, this time disguised as "RESINOUS GLAZE."
Here's what really gets me: That little "kosher" indicator below the ingredient list. According to the Wikipedia article on kosher diets, "The consumption of insects involves five violations of Torah law, so according to Jewish Law it is a greater sin than the consumption of pork."
Really now. It doesn't take scholar on Jewish Law to determine that eating insects is worse than eating pork. Exactly what are these Hershey folks trying to pull here? (And as long as we're kicking The Hershey Company while they're down, what's with that grainy texture in Special Dark?)
Step 5: What's in Jelly Beans?
Jelly Bean is my cat. She eats the bugs that she sometimes catches. Likewise, the jelly beans pictured here contain insects. Look at the last line of the list of ingredients: Confectioner's glaze. The list of ingredients is extremely long, but cut the guys some slack; that's a comprehensive list for the ingredients of a lot of different flavors of beans.
Interestingly, these are also labeled kosher. Even more interesting, they are certified by the very same folks that certified the Good & Plenty. (I see a pattern here. Look for certified kosher bacon next year!)
Step 6: What's in Other Confections?
The degree to which ingredients like carmine and confectioner's glaze are integrated into things that we eat is quite surprising. Once you know what to look for, you'll start noticing them all the time.
Hopefully, you're now armed just a little bit better to protect yourself against unwittingly eating insects.
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136 Comments
2 years ago on Step 3
Lac bugs, which produce shellac, are not beetles they are a different kind of bug.
2 years ago
um... but what about regular food?
8 years ago on Introduction
Thanks for the informative article. While I don't mind eating insects I will share this with friends who either due to dietary concerns, or just the "ick" factor refuse to eat them.
8 years ago on Introduction
Sooner or later the government will feed us insects for dinner. Then they will tell us it was for our own good and to save the planet.
Deal with it.
8 years ago on Introduction
I know it's years after the first posting but just wanted to clear something up for folks.
Shellac as an ingredient - confectioners/ food/ resinous glaze doesn't contain bugs. Shellac is the secretion from the lac female bug scraped from trees. It's true that UNrefined shellac contains up to 25% insect material, but the shellac used in food is refined shellac.
Cochineal on the other hand IS processed insects.
(As for Kosher insects there are only 4; 2 types of locust, grasshoppers and some other ground hopping thing, don't remember which. Has something to do with how their legs are set up. Don't think you'll find them much in processed food though - yet).
9 years ago on Introduction
"...the Torah only prohibits insects which are visible to the naked eye...."
http://torahmusings.com/2013/01/kosher-worms-insects/
Insects are not bad for you, but in biblical times it was too hard to tell the difference much less remember the long list of good and bad insects so the rabbis interpreted them all to be wrong. It was easier and besides a chicken or cow is much more filling than figuring out which tiny insect is ok to eat.
15 years ago on Introduction
Insects figure intentionally into human diets around the world. Today the word mealworm is an unsuccessful search at Instructables; but someday there could easily be a tutorial on raising your own mealworms and sharing them among your big fish, your reptile, and your cookie recipe.
Resist eating oh just any insect though: Insects and plants invented chemical warfare. (What else have they got, after all.) Some of their chemicals can be medicine at the right time and dosage, but many are plain nasty--even lethal.
Thank you, Oskay, for helping us to know more of the specifics!
Reply 14 years ago on Introduction
I'm gonna make a tutorial on how to breed/raise mealworms
15 years ago on Introduction
In sugar babies WHITE MINERAL OIL is typically used for the glossy effect it produces, and to prevent the candy pieces from adhering to each other. Some studies suggest that prolonged use might be unhealthy because of low accumulation levels in organs. resinous glaze is beetle juice, but it can be compared to honey from a bee. yumm....eat up. :)
15 years ago on Introduction
This whole article is really very interesting. Thanks. Unfortunately we cannot avoid eating insects no matter what we do. So if that upsets you, do not read this. Isect parts allowed in food
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
Not only is that already linked in the comments, but it's clear that you didn't even read the title of this instructable: this is about how to eat fewer insects.
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
Sorry, I still can't find that link. There are a lot of comments, most of them trash so I only gave them a cursory look. Hey, I gave you credit for being interesting. My point in adding the link (to be clear, since you did not pick up on it) was that it is inane to try to avoid processed, regulated (and safe) food sources when you can't even avoid the accidental and unregulated ones. That's in the same league as the germaphobic idiots who won't flush toilets with their hands. You won't live any longer, just in fear of everything you put in your mouth. Encouraging that sort of paranoia won't justify your own. C'mon, anaphylactic shock from a Sugar Baby!? Lighten up. I'll take bugs over processed sugar any day.
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
Since you didn't read the article, I'll repeat part of step one for you here: "Let's be perfectly clear about this: this instructable is titled "How to eat fewer insects." It is meant to help you eat fewer (not zero) insects IF that is your choice."
Please read that a few more times until it sinks in.
So your comment, helpfully informing me that "we cannot avoid eating insects " is kind of redundant. You put down a comment to tell me that I'm wrong for writing this article, and the best argument that you can come up with is something that I already mentioned in the article? Very helpful indeed.
How about this: why don't you try writing some instructables so that everyone else can leave condescending, off-topic, offensive, and redundant comments on yours. You'll find that most of your commenters haven't read the other comments to know that what they had to say has already been said-- and answered. You'll find that maybe a quarter of them have a question that you already answered in the article-- indicating that they hadn't read it all the way-- and you'll find the very few, very special commenters who haven't even read the title. You'll have lots of fun-- you should try it.
Anaphylactic shock from carmine is a genuine concern to a certain set of allergic people. Since you think that I should lighten up about it, it's clear that you're not one of the people that could end up in the hospital from eating a popsicle containing carmine-- and good for you. But that's no reason to wish that fate on others.
15 years ago on Introduction
hmm eating bugs is probably more healthy and environmentally better then purchasing and eating the candy
15 years ago on Step 6
Actually pfp21, from what i have heard, gelatin is made from powdered cow bones and cow toenails. Correct me if i'm wrong, but i think that's what makes it wobbly...........jello anyone?
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
ichipoodle is correct, i work in a beef processing facility and we do save particular bones for the production of gelatin, also used for gel tab asprin coating.
Reply 15 years ago on Step 6
According to wikipedia's entry on gelatin, modern production is primarily from "mainly pork skins, pork and cattle bones, or split cattle hides," but that horns and toenails are not commonly used. I don't imagine that most mainstream carnivores find this shocking or disturbing, but I personally think that is a bit strange that some of our desserts consist essentially of sweetened meat.
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
wow dude... thumbs up on the instruc mate... scary thought... im gunna sue the jelly belly company and gain a little bit o $$ =D jk...but still. i would be very disturbed if eating bugs bothered me at all.
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
Wikipedia entries are to be taken with a grain of salt. Since they can be edited by anyone, they are not a definitive source to be accepted without caveat.
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
Yes, we know about wikipedia. However, comments that add nothing to the conversation except nonspecific doubts should also be taken with a grain of salt. If you actually have a better reference on the subject, we're all listening.