Crushed parasitic beetles -> Starbucks strawberry drink [1]

[1] - https://inhabitat.com/starbucks-admits-its-strawberry-drinks...

I suppose by some definitions, this beetle is a parasite, but it feeds from a specific species of cactus, which makes it a herbivore, so in the context of a story ostensibly alerting starbucks customers (and if you're a starbucks customer you've probably got deeper ethical issues to introspect on) it's an odd adjective.

Aside - tracts of Australia, and doubtless elsewhere, have a major problem with the cactus that was introduced specifically to feed these beetles -- Opuntia aurantiaca, aka tiger pear.

A cousin of the better known (and edible-fruiting) prickly pear, this one has smaller pads, grows only about 30-50cm high, but has much fiercer spikes, propagates way more easily, and the biological controls (cochineal beetle) are woefully less effective than, say, the Cactoblastis moth that's used to control prickly pear.

Back to cochineal - for a very long time it was one of the very few ways to produce a reliable, consistent, persistent red dye. The incidence of anaphylactic shock and similarly strong reactions to cochineal, while non-zero, is tremendously low.

Artificial dyes also have some non-trivial health concerns [0], and some manufacturers are moving back to cochineal for this reason.

[0] https://www.google.com/search?q=artificial+red+coccine+dye+h...

Calling cochineal a "parasitic beetle" is pretty silly, since it is not a beetle, and its host is a nopal cactus.

A vanishingly tiny number of people care whether their food coloring contains crushed up bugs. I can guarantee you eat similar insects (aphids, etc.) on a regular basis in "vegetarian" or "vegan" food.

I agree with this. It is super easy to prove and many of them are still alive too. Just put a random set of vegetables in a container and wait. You will see flies, aphids and all manor of other bugs born in it. I sometimes even find fruit-flies when I do this. Same with meats. Meats contain larvae and well, I won't gross people out here. That is why I cook what I can and wash everything with apple cider vinegar, since I have so much of it anyway. Also important to keep stomach acid strong for this reason. I envy Vulchers for their super strong stomach acid.