A young mother is left reeling after discovering she accidentally fed her children ‘crushed insects’ while serving them a Christmas treat.
Katrina Mitra35, bought a pack of mini Easter cookies for her children after quickly scanning the ingredients list.
She thought the treats looked good because they were dairy and egg free – then she got home and made her skin-crawling discovery.
“There was one word I had never heard of, so when I got home I Googled it,” she explained.
The word: Cochineal. A scaled insect that is dried and crushed to make a natural dye for food and textiles.
‘Have you heard of it? Seriously, I’m disgusted. I don’t know why this has to be in a cookie.’
Katrina has a low toxic business, Raw glowand is proud of her healthy diet and lifestyle, but says adding insects to food is too much.
She looked devastated as she stared into the camera as she described the insects.
‘Are you joking? To me that’s like toxic. None of us will eat these again and don’t let your family eat them either,” she said, despite cochineal being approved for food in Australia.
The mother’s video went viral and many agreed that they want nothing to do with eating bugs.
“It’s so important to research and check everything these days, so many hidden things,” one woman said.
Katrina Mitra, 35, bought a pack of mini Easter cookies for her children after quickly scanning the ingredients list
“We’re heading into a future where the elites want us to eat bugs… we need to stand up NOW and boycott,” said another.
“Just because it’s been used for centuries doesn’t mean it’s okay to eat bugs,” shouted another.
Others slapped her and told her she had to teach herself how food is made.
“Good girl… cochineal has been used for decades and is completely harmless. it doesn’t matter where it comes from, it’s just an animal byproduct,” one woman said.
The word: Cochineal. A scaled insect that is dried and crushed to make a natural dye for food and textiles
“People want natural colors, but don’t want to know where the color comes from,” said another.
People warned her not to seek out rennet, an enzyme found in the stomach of calves and often used to make cheese or gelatin – if she was outraged by the insects.
Katrina told FEMAIL that she has done some research since making the video last week and understands that the insects are a key ingredient in many well-known food brands.
Arnotts Tim Tams used the ingredient just like Shapes, Pasito and Pascall – for its famous marshmallows.