Spoiler alert: Almost certainly!
Of course, as we all know, all of our food contains crushed bugs by accident. The FDA has very strict guidelines for how many insect parts are allowed per unit for every food sold in the United States. Bugs are in our food, and there is nothing we can do about it.
But Starbucks recently made a change to their menu that, while positive from a rational point of view, has a lot of people squicked out. They recently announced that their Strawberries and Creme Frappuccinos will not be colored pink using artificial dyes like Red 40, which has developed a bad reputation in health food circles. Instead, these Frappuccinos will receive their perky shade of pink thanks to cochineal, which is an all-natural dye.
Problem? Starbucks' PR department apparently didn't think so. But they failed to account for the irrational loathing most people have for the thought of eating crushed insects.
Many foods are actually colored with cochineal or carmine. These food safe dyes come from the crushed bodies of a South American scale insect called Dactylopius coccus. This tiny insect sucks the sap of the prickly pear plant, and protects itself by covering itself with a big blob of white wax.
The cochineal insect has been used for thousands of years as a dye. The ancient Aztecs used to kill the insects by boiling them, leave their bodies in the sun to dry, then grind up their bodies and use the powder to dye their textiles. Our modern processes have changed little over the eons.
Cochineal is safe, natural, and comes from a renewable resource. The cochineal insect is easy to breed and raise, and it consumes prickly pear, which is considered a nuisance plant and invasive species in many parts of the world. Cochineal is an important cash crop for subsistence farmers in Mexico who harvest the insects and provide them to the American market.
By comparison, the two artificial red dyes which are most commonly used - Red #4 and Red #40 - are derived from coal tar. Their production creates a lot of industrial pollution. And many people feel that Red #40 may be responsible for health and behavioral problems, particularly in children. These claims are relatively unsubstantiated, but the red dyes are bad enough that the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is calling for them to be banned.
The list of foods containing cochineal and carmine is long. Because there are no specific labeling requirements, it can fall under the all-purpose "Natural coloring." The best advice is to try not to think about it!