One of the most widely used color additives comes from an unexpected source. Cochineal extract (also known as carmine or carminic acid) is made from the dead bodies of small bugs harvested mainly in Peru and the Canary Islands. The female Dactylopius-coccus-costa likes to feed on cactus pads, and color from the catus gathers in her body and her eggs. The little bugs are collected, dried, and ground into a coloring additive. It takes about 70,000 of the insects to make a pound of carmine, which is used to make processed foods look pink, red, or purple. Dannon strawberry yogurt gets its color from carmine, as do many candies, frozen fruit bars, fruit fillings, and Ocean Spray pink grapefruit juice drink.

"we have found out... that we cannot trust some people who are none conformist," Kroc once said (one of the brains behind Mcdonalds). "We will make conformist out of them in a hurry. The organisation cannot trust the individual: the individual must trust the organisation."