The Bug-Based Glaze That Makes Candy Shine

That glossy sheen on your favorite candies? There's a good chance it comes from bugs. Specifically, from a resinous substance secreted by a tiny insect called the lac beetle (Kerria lacca).

The substance is called shellac, and it's been used for centuries—not just in candy, but in furniture polish, nail products, and even pharmaceutical pill coatings. On ingredient labels, you might spot it listed as "confectioner's glaze," "resinous glaze," or simply "shellac."

How Shellac Is Made

Female lac beetles secrete a resin to protect their eggs on tree branches in India and Thailand. Workers scrape this resin off, wash it, and process it into flakes or dissolved liquid form.

It takes roughly 100,000 beetles to produce about one pound of shellac. That's a lot of insect labor for your shiny jellybean habit.

Which Candies Still Use It?

Here's where it gets interesting:

• Skittles reformulated around 2009 and now use plant-based carnauba wax for their coating (at least in the US and UK)
• Jellybeans from many brands—including Jelly Belly—still commonly use shellac
• Milk Duds, Whoppers, and some chocolate-covered nuts often contain shellac coatings
• Sprinkles and candy corn frequently get the shellac treatment too

So while the viral claim about Skittles is largely outdated, jellybean lovers are still very much in bug-glaze territory.

Is It Safe to Eat?

Absolutely. The FDA classifies shellac as GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe), and it's been consumed by humans for generations. It passes through your digestive system without issue.

The "ick factor" is purely psychological. You're not eating ground-up beetles—you're eating a processed, purified tree resin that beetles happened to produce. It's not so different from eating honey, which is essentially bee vomit.

Why Use Bug Secretions at All?

Shellac is remarkably effective. It creates a hard, glossy finish that:

• Prevents candies from sticking together
• Protects against moisture and humidity
• Gives that satisfying visual shine
• Is tasteless and odorless

Plant-based alternatives like carnauba wax (from palm leaves) and beeswax work too, but shellac remains popular because it's cheap and effective.

Not Just Candy

Before you swear off shellac entirely, know that it shows up in unexpected places. Those shiny apples at the grocery store? Often waxed with shellac. Many vitamin tablets and time-release medications use shellac coatings. Even some coffee beans get the treatment.

The furniture industry used shellac as a wood finish for centuries before polyurethane took over. That antique dresser in your grandmother's house? Probably finished with lac beetle secretions.

So the next time you pop a jellybean, you're participating in an ancient tradition of humans putting bug products to surprisingly practical use. Nature's original gloss coat, perfected over thousands of years by tiny beetles in Southeast Asian forests.