Cochineal: Actually, this dye is everywhere

[snopes]

Starbucks has declared that it will no longer use cochineal extract, an insect-derived red coloring, in its wares. If anyone is imagining that the use of this dye is rare or new, they’re mistaken.

http://www.latimes.com/health/booste...,5639702.story

[mouse goddess]

Yeah, I've never understood the hubub. It seems like this was a "fun fact" that was in all my trivia books and magazines when I was a kid.

[Die Capacitrix]

I've been avoiding strawberry drinks in U.S. Starbucks because I assumed they used artificial red dye, which I know causes me digestive issues.

I wonder if we'll ever reach a point where coloring food goes out of fashion.

[Ryda Wong, EBfCo.]

Originally Posted by Die Capacitrix

I wonder if we'll ever reach a point where coloring food goes out of fashion.

I wish it would. I'm going to the allergist tomorrow am, due to my extreme allergies to FD&C Food Colorings. They put that stuff in everything.

[Singing in the Drizzle]

Originally Posted by Die Capacitrix

I wonder if we'll ever reach a point where coloring food goes out of fashion.

I do not think it ever will. Color is an important part of taste. Not as much as smell, but it is still important.

[Avril]

And it isn't exactly new. Mrs. Ingalls was coloring her butter with carrot juice a century and a half or so ago.

[Chloe]

Food coloring is centuries older than that; even millennia, if we count saffron, which was used by the Romans.

[ganzfeld]

I'm just mad about Saffron.

[Sue Bee]

Thanks for the earworm, Donovan.