The Truth Exposed: "Did you know that you may be drinking bug extract?!"
On a daily basis the average person consumes prepared foods and drinks containing a wide variety of artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives. These unnatural additives along with public criticisms have prompted several food and drink producers to introduce lines of 'all-natural' products. As one would expect, the ingredients of 'all-natural' products are 100% natural or non-artificial. The true origins of these ingredients are unknown to the consumer. Most of these have easily predictable origins and are obtained by relatively simple means. There are however some ingredients whose true derivation may shock, if not appall, the consumer. Rightly or wrongly decisions are made, perhaps at the corporate level, to conceal or suppress the truth surrounding these ingredients. In the web pages that follow, I will expose the alarming truth surrounding a key ingredient of a popular variety of fruit juice sold around the world.
Several months ago a former colleague informed me of a curious fact he had learned about one of his favorite juice drinks. He claimed that the 'all-natural' drink contained extract from an insect. He elaborated and said that the extract is used to color the drink because the use of an artificial color would invalidate the drink's 100% natural status. He stated that the additive is called 'cochineal extract'. Refusing to believe his claim, I began my research. My first step was to purchase the drink. The juice drink in question is of the Ruby Red variety. After obtaining a bottle of the product I examined its ingredients. Cochineal extract was listed. My next step was to research the ingredient. Consulting two reputable scientific indexes, I found the following definitions:
I was astonished! Amazed! Could it be?? Dried bodies of a female insect used in a popular juice drink?! Is there no other 'natural' alternative? Surely pigments could be extracted from cherries or some other red fruit as opposed to an insect. In order to obtain more information on this disturbing fact I called the '1-800' consumer information number listed on the drink's label. The following is a transcript of the conversation that occurred between a representative and myself:
Representative: "Good afternoon, ***** Spray, this is Xxxxxxxx."
Me: "Hi Xxxxxxxx. I'm calling for information on one of your ***** Spray
products."
Representative: "Uh-hunh."
Me: "I'm looking at the ***** Spray Ruby Red grapefruit juice drink from
concentrate..."
Representative: "OK"
Me: "..and it says, 'Made from Indian River grapefruit'."
Representative: "Yes."
Me: "Where exactly is the Indian River?"
Representative: "The Indian River is in Florida"
Me: "Ah..in Florida.OK. So it's [made from] grapefruits from Florida then.."
Me: "The term 'concentrate' .. Does that mean you take a bunch of grapefruits,
basically dehydrate them and then process them..process the residue or
whatever is left over and then add water?"
Representative: "Right. When we talk about 'concentrate' all the water has been taken out and then it's concentrated."
Me: "OK. And the reason for that is?...."
Representative: "The reason for that is because grapefruit juice is produced after harvest and [that's only once a year]. So if they want to keep it around they concentrate it."
Me: "Ah, OK. So really you just sort of store the concentrate all year"
Representative: "Yes.
Me: "Ah. OK."
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Me: "How long have you guys been making the ***** Spray Ruby Red stuff?"
Representative: "Ruby Red has been out for quite some time... It has probably been out for about 5 years now."
Me: "About 5 years?"
Representative: "5 years, yes."
Me: "Is it sold nationwide?"
Representative: "Yes it is. Also in stores internationally."
Me: "Oh really?
Representative: "Uh-hunh."
Me: "How many different countries get the ***** Spray Ruby Red stuff?"
Representative: "The Ruby Red....I think is limited to the America and Asian countries.....I have a book someplace....."
Me: "I take it that it goes to the major Asian countries like Japan, India,...."
Representative: ".....I think it also goes to some places in Europe.....I'm not sure that every country there has it..."
Me: "OK. But definitely India and Japan?"
Representative: "Yes but let me double-check that...."
Representative: "Actually I was wrong. Ireland, Scotland, and the UK only get the cranberry drinks."
Me: "That includes the Ruby Red?"
Representative: "No. That's not a cranberry drink."
Me: "What about the Ruby Red?"
Representative: "They don't get that. They get our Fresh Grapefruit ....They get our...You're only interested in our grapefruit juices, right?"
Me: "The Ruby Red grapefruit juice drink."
Representative: "Switzerland gets the Ruby Red."
Me: "Switzerland?!"
Representative: "Yes. Australia, Asia, and the Far East carry all of our drinks."
Representative: "Japan carries all of our juices."
Me: "Including the Ruby Red?"
Representative: "Mm-hmm....."
Me: "Philippines?"
Representative: ".....Taiwan carries the Ruby Red....."
Me: "OK."
Representative: "For your curiosity the juices taste very different between the [countries] because the ingredients aren't different but the blend is different."
Me: "The ingredients aren't different but the blend is different??"
Representative: "Yes."
Me: "Is this just for Japan or is this for Taiwan?"
Representative: "Actually, for all of the .....except for Canada..... it's for all the European and Asian countries. Because the 'taste acceptance'
in different countries is very different. Here [in the US] they find that Americans like their stuff a little on the sweet side. In Europe the tendency is for things to be stronger and sharper."
Me: "Really?"
Representative: "I'm not sure about Asia. I think they like things to be very strong. So when you taste [juices], [they] would taste very different from the taste here."
Me: "Really? So if I had a bottle of Ruby Red from the UK, a bottle of Ruby Red
from the US, and a bottle of the Ruby Red from Japan...."
Representative: "They would all taste different.
Me: "All 3 would taste different? The ingredients would be the same but they would
all taste different?"
Representative: "Yes. It's the way they [weight the ingredients]."
Me: "Hmph...That would be an interesting experiment to do one day."
Representative: "{laugh} Yes. Select juices from the different countries."
Representative: "Saudi Arabia carries it....Kuwait, Nigeria."
Me: "Nigeria? Wow."
Representative: "Moscow, Latvia...."
Me: "They all have the Ruby Red?"
Representative: "Uh-hunh."
Me: "Wow."
Representative: "..and Central and South America......oh! and Turkey
does too."
Me: "How many different varieties are there? You said for the Asian countries it
tastes different [from] the American version and the European version tastes
different.........So are there just 3 different varieties or for each of these
countries is it modified?"
Representative: "It's not modified per country....I don't know how Latvia's
would taste....actually, I don't know have the information on
the specific tastes or how that product is {measured?} and
rated....but I do know that [there are] different blends....but
I don't know all the blends for all the countries .....
{laugh}...maybe I should."
Me: "{laugh} No, no. That's fine. Interesting. Now let me ask you this, [in] the
ingredients for the American Ruby Red, one of the things I've noticed in
there....and someone told me about this and I'm curious to find out if it's
true....one of the ingredients is cochineal extract?"
Representative: "Right. Cochineal extract is actually an acid. It's called
carminic acid. Cochineal and carmine are the same thing."
Me: "OK. Now is it true that this comes from some insect in South America?"
Representative: "Cochineal is actually the beetle that the carmine is derived
from. The carminic acid is the natural coloring found in the
shell of the cochineal beetle."
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The opinions expressed on this page are strictly my own.