Food Shellac is used as a coating agent in food supplement tablets, candies, and chewing gums. The FDA approves it as a food-safe coating.
As Halloween 2021 season kicked off, a post started circulating on social media claiming candies are coated with Shellac, a resin-like by-product from the Lac insect. This claim is valid. Shellac, also known as confectioner's glaze, is made from a resin excreted by the female lac beetle.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture, lac is a scale-like insect feeding on resiniferous trees and bushes cultivated in southeast Asia. Food Shellac is used as a coating agent in food supplement tablets, candies, and chewing gum. It is also used as a component of adhesives in packaging, inks, pharmaceutical coatings, cosmetics, lacquers, varnishes for wood, floor polish, and many more.
Shellac provides protective candy coatings or glazes on candies as it provides a high gloss in relatively thin layers. The FDA approves it as a food-safe coating.
Halloween is a holiday celebrated in various countries on October 31 every year, also known as Allhalloween. The tradition originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. This day marks the end of summer and the harvest with the beginning of cold winter.
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