smarties & cockroaches

[cheyenne]

the colorant used in smarties is from cockroaches(cochineal)do you think it is right for the vegetarian society to sue nestle.has this put you of smarties??(catch you lot sunday im of to a wedding in london)bye bye!!(the ed feels a sigh of relieve!!

[stoo_pid]

why?  Have Nestle claimed they're veggie or something?

Enjoy the wedding BTW - hope you get more than the usual Mushroom Stroganoff as the veggie option!

[camille79]

not sure if it's the same stuff but the little bottles of "cochineal" you buy in the supermarkets are actually synthetic replications of the ground-up beetles that used to be used.  I suspect Nestle use the same as it would be much cheaper as well as keeping their product veggie-friendly.

[nicola_red]

Smarties do use real cochineal (also known as E120). It's also in Campari. They've never claimed otherwise and so can't be sued - when I became a veggie about 13yrs ago it was one of the first non-obvious off-limits foods I was aware of. There's no reason thsi should put you off if you eat meat - and just in case you wanted to know, ant secretions are also used to glaze many sweets and fruits, also known as shellac.

[smudge]

I read about that in the 'Daily Mail' today - it has certainly put me off buying Smarties for the Grandchildren - that is until I hear otherwise!

[New Forester]

Personally I don't eat Smarties anyway, as I know too much about Nestl� (type "nestle, ethics" into Google).

 

Incidentally, the cochineal insect is a true bug, not a cockroach.  Bug here is in the British sense meaning an insect in the order Hemiptera (aphids, cicadas, shield bugs, froghoppers, water-scorpions, water-boatmen etc), not the American one meaning any old creepy-crawly.  It is a scale-insect (Dactylopius coccus) which lives on cacti.  For example, see:

http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/course/ent425/compendium/homopt~1.html and scan down to "soft scale-insects".

 

Cockroaches are in the order Dyctyoptera (also including mantises), which is related to the orders containing grasshoppers, crickets, termites, stick-insects etc.  See:

http://www.earthlife.net/insects/dictyopt.html

 

I wonder what the veggie anti-red-Smartie brigade do about the blackfly on their broad beans...?

[nicola_red]

Clean them (can't be done with cochineal or shellac)...or grow them to flower in May or June before blackfly appear (http://www.veganorganic.net/broadbeans.htm).

[nortypony]

Why would a vegetarian want to sue Nestle?  The justice system is surely there to deal with those people and organisations that with intent wish to cause harm or distress to others by breaking laws.  From what I understand Nestle provide a wealth of products that millions of people buy on a daily basis.  I am sure they do not use cochineal in an attempt to undermine the values and befiefs of vegetarians.  As another reply has confirmed a synthetic reproduction is used so there is no issue anyway.  Being a vegetarian surely means you have made a moral judgement on what you choose to consume.  Surely, you must have done some research in to issues prior to making this moral judgement - why then didn't you also take a little bit of time to find out what impact your vegetarian decision has on you (ie what can you eat, and what can't you).  I like Smarties, and meats etc.  I don't force my decision to eat those products on to vegetarians - why should they force their decision not to, on to me?

[Richard Head]

It's a Smartie for God's sake. Anyway, vegetarians deserve to be force fed cockroaches & dog poo on a regular basis.

[smudge]

Well Richard Head, one of our daughters is a vegetarian & but I don't think she 'deserves' to be fed on what you're suggesting! Shame on you!

[paula.e]

Richard Head , Back to school on Monday you bad boy!

All vegi foods should have a green V on them, as some do at the moment if they are suitible for vegetarians.

I`m not a vegetarian but i respect their veiws.

[Richard Head]

Smudge, sorry you are quite right of course. She shouldn't be force fed dog poo because it's got dog food in it & therefore wouldn't be allowed. It would also be a complete waste of mashed up donkey knackers giving it to a veggie.

[cheyenne]

look out theres  a d**k head about !!

[smudge]

Beat me to it vinny!

[nicola_red]

Sorry to come back to this topic, can I please reiterate that whilst there is such a thing as synthetic cochineal, Smarties DO contain the real thing? nortypony, I don't think any of the veggies on here are trying to "force a decision" not to eat them onto non-veggies - simply stating the facts. As I said in my previous answer, meat-eaters shouldn't be remotely concerned about eating cochineal. I'm a vegan but respect the choices of all and so long as meat-eaters are happy with what they consume - including cochineal and shellac - then that's fine and we can all live in peace. It is also true that some consider Nestle to have dubious ethics - but that's a different issue altogether.

[cheyenne]

hi smudge,theres always one around every corner .well said nicola_red!!.cheers had a brilliant wedding.my nephew got married,he his partialy sighted.he just missed out on bronze at the paralympics at judo"(darren kail) also he is a vegetarian. im sure he would love to meet mr r.head.

[Richard Head]

Blimey chill out folks I was just trying to inject a bit of humour into it. I wont bother again if it upsets you.

[smudge]

Ok Richard, you're forgiven - no grudges held!

[cheyenne]

hi richard,alls forgiven.is that your real name,i bet you got some stick at school lol.

[paula.e]

It looks like your not such a bad lad after all !!