Laccifera lacca

Carmine belongs to the anthraquinone class of compounds and several other chemically closely related compounds are also used as colorants.25 Kermes is a well known colorant in Europe. It is obtained from the insects, Kermes ilicis or Kermococcus vermilis, which grow on oak trees. It contains kermisic acid, the aglycone of carminic acid, and its isomer ceroalbolinic acid. Its properties are very similar to carmine. Lac is a red colorant obtained from the insect Laccifera lacca which is found on several families of trees in India and Malaysia. The lac insects are better known for their production of shellac. They contain a complex mixture of anthraquinones. Alkanet is a red pigment from the roots of Alkanna tinctoria Taush and Alchusa tinctoria Lom. All three have been cleared for food use in Europe but not in the US. 

A group of homopterous insects, chiefly Laccifera lacca, feeding on various forest trees produce an excretion on the bark of the tree which eventually covers the insects. This has been a commercial product for a long time as lac for making varnish or in a purified form as shellac. As with many insect products, it is not yet certain whether lac is made by the insects themselves or by symbiotic micro-organisms in them. Lac consists of a mixture of polyhydroxylated palmitic acids and sesquiterpenes. The palmitic acids are hydroxylated at C-10 and C-11 or C-16 or all three, as in aleuritic acid (Figure 6.22). 

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