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I went shopping in a new store today. At first I was excited to find something with 100% juice that wasn’t absurdly expensive. But then I looked at the ingredients and saw cochineal extract, AKA carmine, AKA crushes beetles used to make things red.

I just don’t understand. You’ve got this juice, you could totally add beet juice for coloring and achieve a beautiful color. But no, gotta throw insects into it instead. As far as hidden non-vegan ingredients go, stuff from insects tends to fly under the radar. Yet I bet if more people were aware of what they were buying, even non-vegans would take issue with it.

top 48 comments
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[–] Ozymati@lemmy.nz 6 points 8 hours ago

Beetle juice?

Beetlejuice

Beetlejuice

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 1 points 7 hours ago

not even real juice, just concentrate, and ton of sugar.

[–] SCmSTR@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

Your choices are petroleum or beetles. Take your pick.

[–] scutiger@lemmy.world 3 points 13 hours ago

And where does the "natural flavor" come from?

[–] Poojabber@lemmy.world 49 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Is this not just... beetlejuice?

[–] Trex202@lemmy.world 23 points 23 hours ago (1 children)
[–] MeatPilot@sh.itjust.works 24 points 22 hours ago (1 children)
[–] Snapz@lemmy.world 18 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

I’m the ghost with the most, babe.

[–] Evil_Shrubbery@thelemmy.club 3 points 17 hours ago

Ghostest with the mostest!!

[–] ThomasWilliams@lemmy.world 2 points 12 hours ago

Beet would not produce enough colour.

Only in America

Yes, in many countries coal tar dye is still used.

[–] Soulcreator@programming.dev 38 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Legally how can you state it is 100% juice when the first ingredient is filtered water, then you add the cochineal extract, and the acorbic acid. I mean it's mostly juice but it's clearly not 100% juice. I feel like this is a lawsuit waiting to happen.

[–] setsubyou@lemmy.world 34 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Some additives are allowed in small amounts, and the water is allowed because it’s juice from concentrate where you can add exactly the amount of filtered water that was previously removed to make the concentrate.

[–] Soulcreator@programming.dev 14 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Ah that makes so much sense, thanks for clarifying! Manufacturers are legally allowed to lie to consumers, that's much better!

You aren't going to like the "supplements" isle, then.

[–] nexguy@lemmy.world 20 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Like how tic tacs are "sugar free" at "0 gm" per serving yet they are 94% sugar. At 0.49 gm per tic tac any amount of sugar is rounded down. Thanks FDA!

[–] wewbull@feddit.uk 4 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

I think it's actually "less than one is zero". So 0.94g is no sugar in a 1g tic-tac.

[–] nexguy@lemmy.world 3 points 19 hours ago

A tic tac is purposefully 0.49 grams in total weight. At 94% sugar that is about 0.46 grams of sugar.

[–] setsubyou@lemmy.world 3 points 22 hours ago

From the company’s point of view, this is not a lie. They’re following a legal definition that tells them what they can call their product. The law defines what 100% means, and a product falling under this definition can’t legally use e.g. names for diluted juice products, in the same way that it couldn’t be sold as milk.

[–] Bgugi@lemmy.world 4 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

It's not necessarily the same amount of water that was previously removed, it's based on the sugar content in the resulting mix from the concentrate. So if you had super sugary apples, you may be able to make more "100% juice" than you started with by concentrating and re-diluting it.

[–] ThomasWilliams@lemmy.world 2 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

Concentrate is very bitter. The banana pulp and "natural flavours" (stuff like apple and pumpkin) is added to sweeten the drink.

They cannot add sugar and call it "juice".

[–] KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 19 hours ago

I feel the need to point out, beyond what others have, that juice is typically mostly water.

[–] quick_snail@feddit.nl 1 points 11 hours ago

Typical Florida Man juice

[–] Evil_Shrubbery@thelemmy.club 4 points 16 hours ago

Juice still isn't AI generated?
There is yet hope for humanity!! (/s)

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Wait til you hear about the Antarctic fish blood in the icecream

[–] Madzielle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 1 day ago (2 children)

aye, so, I just searched "Antarctic fish blood in the icecream" and did not find anthing but articles on icefish and some fish that has antifreeze for blood.

Id like to know more, whats the ingredient name?

[–] unemployedclaquer@sopuli.xyz 6 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

Possibly this

Www.popsci.com/science/fake-fish-blood-freezer-burn

It's synthetic, not sure of it fits a vegan ethic but the paper is linked there

[–] ODuffer@lemmy.world 3 points 20 hours ago

Ala/Glu polypeptides. As has been mentioned they are mainly(?) lab grown now. An Ultrapotent, Ultraeconomical, Antifreeze Polypeptide - McPartlon - 2026 - Advanced Materials - Wiley Online Library https://advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adma.202420504

[–] Mad__vegan@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago

They use gmo yeast similar to nooch now. Rare blood is expensive. If cows or chickens had that property we'd be fucked

[–] chrisbtoo@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 day ago

The what in the what, now?

[–] plyth@feddit.org 11 points 1 day ago

Cochineal extract is mentioned before strawberry juice concentrate. It must be more than some ml.

[–] cupcakezealot@piefed.blahaj.zone 6 points 1 day ago (2 children)

100% juice

first ingredient filtered water

[–] ThomasWilliams@lemmy.world 3 points 12 hours ago

Water is a component of juice.

[–] CIA_chatbot@lemmy.world 3 points 22 hours ago

Water is just earth juice friend! And the beetle extract is just beetle juice! You have to know how to speak corporate

[–] IPeaceInYourFace@lemmy.world 1 points 23 hours ago

Only in America

[–] Zier@fedia.io -1 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

I call this food poisoning. There is no need to crush up insects in a juice. Stuff like this makes it very easy to never buy that product/company again.

[–] Drusas@fedia.io 12 points 14 hours ago

"Food poisoning" already has an agreed-upon meaning.

[–] atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works -3 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

0% sugar my fucking ass. I hate shit like this. A tablespoon is ~12 grams of sugar. Your daily recommended (by the USDA, the people tasked with selling more agricultural products) sugar is 50 grams. So a mere 8oz of this shit has half of the sugar you are supposed to get in a 24 hour period but it’s 0%… fuck this lying bullshit.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 2 points 7 hours ago

juice always has sugar. only if see unsweetened labeled , which is rare to find and exclusive to specific brands.

[–] PinkiePieYay2707@pawb.social 12 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

You seem to be missing that it is 0% ADDED sugars. They are not lying about anything here (at least as far as we know).

Should they include the percentage for the 24 grams that come from fruit? Yes. Does that make the label misleading? Yes. Does that mean they are lying about there being no sugar in there. Absolutely not! In fact I'd say they are being very clear about where the sweetness comes from, as they should be.