9/6/2023 0 Comments Kosher fish gelatin powder![]() ![]() 21 Shellac is used in jelly beans and rainbow sprinkles amongst other goodies. The purified resin is dissolved in three to four parts ethanol to make liquid shellac used as a transparent food glaze which works well to maintain a long-lasting shine on a product. For commercial use, the resin is collected from trees, processed, and purified so that it does not contain any insect parts which may have stuck to it. Shellac or “confectioner’s glaze”, as it is referred to in the colloquial, is a resin that is secreted by the female lac bug. Who is to say that the blood of an insect can be dried to the extent necessary to be rendered inedible? 18 Furthermore, why should dehydration create a permanent heter for the insect powder if, at the moment that it is placed in water, it is rehydrated and perfectly edible again? 19 Finally, is it really a fact that the rule of inedible food applies equally to food that was once edible and prohibited? Perhaps the rule of inedible food is limited in scope to basar b’cholov such that it can prevent inedible kosher meat from becoming non-kosher when it mixes with milk, but cannot change the status of already prohibited non-kosher meat to become kosher? 20 As a result of these questions, the policy of all national kashrus agencies, including COR, is not to grant kosher status on carmine. Notwithstanding the cited logic, halachic authorities are loath to rely on it. 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. 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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