Cochineal and Prickly Pear

This is less showy than most of my garden photos, but even more botanically interesting. I planted a prickly pear cactus pad a year or so ago and it's growing. It's rooted and has put out new little cactus pads.
It's also growing a bunch of fur-covered insects!
Oh no!
But look - the insects are Cochineal. That's right, they're red food coloring. The red food coloring that is labeled cochineal is made from ground-up opuntia-eating beetles.
I am not planning on making my own food dye, however. The beetle-fur is pretty gross and my finger was stained for hours!

I had not realized it was marketed under any name except cochineal, but Wikipedia says it is also called Carmine and has food dye numbers where approved: "Specific code names for the pigment include natural red 4, C.I. 75470, or E120."

So if you're vegan, watch out for those dyes.