Perhaps the dehydrated insect is nothing more than the equivalent of an inedible piece of wood 15 or dry bones 16 that, once mixed into a kosher product, can be permitted according to the rule of inedible food? 17 14 For the sake of simplicity, we refer to these collective principles as “the rule of inedible food”. 13 However, should such inedible food subsequently be cooked into kosher food, the mixture would be permitted. 12 That said, such inedible food remains prohibited at the Rabbinical level to anyone who ventures to consume it, since the act of consuming something inedible designates it, albeit artificially, as an edible. Non-kosher food that sours or spoils to the point of inedibility is no longer Biblically prohibited. It is entirely clear that the Torah prohibition of non-kosher food applies to food in its edible state. 10 While use of carmine as a dye for materials in the Mishkon is not necessarily indicative of its kosher status, 11 perhaps we can consider it kosher for another reason. 7 This particular wool was coloured red with a dye referred to in early sources as karmaz 8 and kochanilya 9 and was identified as being extracted from an insect. In fact, the first instance of carmine appears in the Torah under the name Tola’as Shoni, loosely translated as scarlet wool, which was one of the dyed materials donated for use in the Mishkon. You may be surprised to learn that carmine is not a “new-world” discovery. 6 Presumably, the consumption of carmine should be strictly prohibited, since it is tantamount to consuming crushed insects or should it? Use of added chemicals causes the colouring and animal matters present in the liquid to precipitate into a red pigment. The powder is then boiled in water which serves to extract carminic acid which is present in the powdered insects. Carmine is produced by heat-drying cochineal insects until they are completely dehydrated and subsequently crushing them into powder.
#KOSHER GELATIN POWDER CODE#
Ingredient labels on products containing carmine refer to it as either carmine, cochineal extract or may even code it as “natural red 4”. Carmine is also a common ingredient in candy, ice cream, and cosmetics. Both products are coloured with a distinctive red dye called carmine which is extracted from crushed female cochineal beetles. In January 2006, the Wall Street Journal 5 published an investigative article revealing the presence of “a bug” in Tropicana Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice and Dannon Boysenberry Yogurt.
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