Biotech company says its cruelty-free red pigment could replace a hue made with bugs

A red pigment used in cosmetics, food, and beverages, usually created by crushing up beetles, can now be made vegan by using sugar.

Biotech company Debut announced it can make carmine, a red dye derived from the Cochineal beetle, by creating a microbe that can “turn sugar into carmine.” Previously, the only way to achieve the pigment was by smashing beetles, which caused allergic reactions in some consumers and backlash toward companies that used it. Josh Britton, Debut’s CEO, told Tech Brew that the microbe that creates cruelty-free carmine is similar to the alcohol fermentation process.

Britton also said that Debut’s carmine doesn’t just replace its predecessor, it outperforms it: Debut’s product is a more “vibrant, stable, and formulatable” version of the pigment. Plus, he said it can create more carmine than that derived from beetles.

“The bug gives about 10% pure material. With biotech, because there is no bug, you’re pushing purities above 75% to 90%,” Britton told Tech Brew. “So that’s a [more] consistent supply chain.”

Debut’s carmine is also more consistent because producing it doesn’t rely on the migration patterns of the Cochineal beetle.

According to Britton, it’ll be one or two years until Debut’s carmine is used in products, but “multiple partners” have approached the company and are interested in helping commercialize the substance. Before that can happen, Britton told Tech Brew, Debut will have to get its carmine approved by the Food and Drug Administration—which could be an uphill battle.

“Color additive petitions are needed with the FDA, and at the moment, the carmine one says it specifically has to be from the beetle,” Britton said. “And that’s because when [carmine] was petitioned, there was no biotech.”

On top of that, Britton told Tech Brew he’s worried that the cosmetic arm of the FDA, which was already small to begin with, was affected by the Trump administration’s mass layoffs at the agency. And he might be right: Fierce Biotech reported that former FDA officials expect the changes to cause “mysterious slowdowns.”

“With all these firings and rifts, I think everyone across the whole sector is asking, how does this affect our filing process?” Britton said.