Consumer awareness of natural colorings in dairy foods is important. But coloring milk and dairy foods is a tricky proposition. Never fear. We look at red, yellow, blue and green color options for milk, cheese, yogurt and ice cream.
Starbucks probably thought it was doing the right thing by coloring its Strawberries & Crème Frappuccino with carmine. After all, even if consumers didn’t realize it when they ordered the popular dairy-berry beverage from their friendly neighborhood barista, the coffee giant had them in mind in opting for this natural colorant over a synthetic like, say, FD&C Red #40.
But as Starbucks soon learned, not all natural colors are created equal. Yes, the Food and Drug Administration exempts carmine red (also called cochineal extract) from the FD&C certification process that governs manmade food colorants. And, yes, carmine is derived from an all-natural source. But that all-natural source happens to be the pulverized body of a pregnant Latin American beetle.