520R journal #3 -The Dark Side of Charming Red

-Body Science-

The Dark Side of Charming Red


In the past, ingesting food was generally considered as a good way to improve our well being. However, currently, food is not all ways as safe as the old time. As contemporary grocery technologies and business developed, people have faced a lot of new kind food. A positive fact is that people are able to taste and enjoy variety of food that they like, and many companies are able to produce them easily also in low-price. And the dark side of this phenomenon is our health or even lives are being threatened by new chemical food additives that have produced by manufactures, in order to boost their profits. A good example is cochineal colored products. Have you ever considered about drinking bloods of bugs? Of course, everyone would think it is disgusting. However, unfortunately, it is highly possible that you are drinking, chewing, or even put bugs’ bloods on your face. Cochineal extract is a product from bugs named “cocas cacti.” These parasites harbor in cactus and their blood’s color is thick-red, that changes its color depends on the level of acid, it helps producers to get many different colors. This cochineal extract is using for enormous kinds of products such as drinks, gums, snacks, hams and sausages, clothes and even cosmetics. The problem of using this cochineal extract is that actually people don’t know about the origin of the colors they ingest every day. In addition, there is still a debatable problem remains: cochineal color is not 100% safe. During a few decades, widespread damages have reported about this extracted color. For instance, the most common casualties are “allergic anaphylactic shock,” which could lead one to death. In my opinion, this “cochineal case” shows that we have to be aware of what we actually eat. In sum, to live healthy-or at least normally-among this fanatical food industrial and consuming-without question- society, we must be conscious and curious.