Which yogurts contain carmine

The insects used to make carmine are called cochineal, and are native to Latin America where they live on cacti. Now farmed mainly in Peru, millions of the tiny insects are harvested every year to produce the colouring. A staple of the global food industry, carmine is added to everything from yoghurts and ice creams, to fruit pies, soft drinks, cupcakes and donuts. It is also used extensively in the cosmetics industry and is found in many lipsticks.

Carmine continues to be widely used because it is such a stable, safe and long-lasting additive whose colour is little affected by heat or light. Supporters also point out that it is a natural product first discovered and used by the Maya and then the Aztecs more than five centuries ago.

They claim that it is far healthier than artificial alternatives such as food colourings made from coal or petroleum by-products. But even fans of carmine agree that it should be more clearly labelled, and there are a growing number of natural red colouring alternatives that don't come from insects. Look for the word "carmine" on a food product that contains it, and you might not actually see it written in the list of ingredients.

Instead it might say "natural red four", "crimson lake" or just E, to give carmine its European Union food additive classification number. If you think it's fruit that turns this strawberry yogurt red, think again. Yes, there are in fact strawberries in there, but they're there for flavor and texture, not color. That bright red comes from something else called carmine. Oh, and it's made from squashed bugs. Squashed female cochineal bugs, to be specific. They're tick-sized critters native to Mesoamerica where they suck the juice from prickly pear cactuses.

Nancy Greig: And if you squish them, they are bright red inside and kind of a purply, deep purple-red color, and that's the source of cochineal, cochineal dye, carmine, whatever you wanna call it.

Narrator: For thousands of years, people have been using these bugs to dye everything from clothes to pottery. But it wasn't until more recently that they made their way into commercial foods. That's mostly thanks to artificial colors like Red 40, Yellow 5, and Blue 1.

But in the late 20th century, consumers became increasingly concerned about synthetic chemicals in their foods and demanded more natural ingredients. Food dyes are subject to the same regulations, whether they are synthetic or natural.

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