when they're not expecting it.

But I hate to break it to you,

you're actually eating them all the time.

I'm not just talking about the critters

that end up in juices or jams by accident.

Some bugs are in our food because, well,

we put them there.

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.

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.

From 1955 to 2010, the consumption of food coloring

rose by 500% in the United States.

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.

So many companies turned to carmine.

It's FDA improved and tasteless.

It resists degradation from light, heat, and oxidation,

and unlike some synthetic colorants,

it hasn't been linked to cancers or tumor growth.

Greig: Now, some people apparently have allergies to it,

but compared with the downsides

of the chemical dye, it's very benign.

It's like using beet juice.

Narrator: And just like that, carmine ended up

in strawberry and cream Frappuccinos

and cake pops at Starbucks,

in Tropicana grapefruit juice,

and, yes, in Yoplait yogurts.

Just look for carmine or cochineal extract

on the label to see for yourself.

But today, carmine is becoming harder and harder to come by.

Some companies like Campari Group,

maker of the famous Campari aperitif, have phased it out

for economic reasons in the US.

Greig: It's expensive to make. I mean, it's easier

to just make a chemical dye,

and this is a very specialized,

you have to farm these little bugs,

and collect billions of pounds of them,

and dry all them and all that, so

I think that just wasn't as practical.

Narrator: Other companies took it out because, well,

people still don't like eating bugs, especially vegans.

In 2012, a vegan news site

outed Starbucks for using cochineal

in its Strawberries and Crème Frappuccino,

saying that it's not vegan,

and a month later, the company said they'd switch

to a bug-free alternative.

In fact, Yoplait now remains

one of the only major brands that sells

food colored with carmine.

But even Yoplait may phase it out

after customers expressed concerns

about eating bug parts.

Greig: So I just think it's ironic

people are freaked out about insects, about eating insects,

even though we eat

2 pounds of insects a year on average by accident.

Narrator: And to show just how harmless they are,

we tried some.

Jones: Nope, just tastes like yogurt!

Not buggy at all, in fact.

Not that I would know what that would taste like,

but I'm really just getting plain Greek yogurt taste.