Starbucks Beetle Extract: Chain Under Fire Over Insect Ingredient In Frappuccinos

Starbucks revealed a food additive made from crushed beetles is used in the company's strawberry flavored drinks

Starbucks enraged vegetarians this week after confirming that its strawberry flavored drinks contain a new ingredient of cochineal extract -- a red dye made out of crushed cochineal beetles.

A vegan Starbucks barista first leaked the news on thisdishisvegetarian.com by providing a list of new ingredients used in the Strawberries & Crème Frappuccino and strawberry-flavored smoothies.

Two years ago the company launched the "However-You-Want-it Frappuccino" and confirmed the drinks could be made vegan if made with soymilk.

Starbucks explained in a company statement that the new extract is part of a wider move to minimize the amount of artificial ingredients in its products. Though it can create a vegan ingredient drink, it can't guarantee a completely pure drink thanks to cross-contamination of animal-derived products at stores. The company's complete statement reads in full:

At Starbucks, we strive to carry products that meet a variety of dietary lifestyles and needs. We also have the goal to minimize artificial ingredients in our products. While the strawberry base isn’t a vegan product, it helps us move away from artificial dyes.

Many Starbucks ingredients can be combined to create a beverage free from animal-derived products; however, we are unable to guarantee this due to the potential cross-contamination with other animal-derived products in our retail locations.

Cochineal is nothing new. Deemed safe by the FDA, the extract is an additive found in a number of food and cosmetic products. The World Health Organization, however, found that cochineal extract can cause severe allergic reactions in some individuals, while asthma may be triggered in others.

Co-founder and managing director of thisdishisvegetarian.com Daelyn Fortney took to Change.org to start a petition to stop use of the dye in the drinks.

With 717 out of 1,000 signatures so far, the campaign is under way to get Starbucks to opt for other natural alternatives.

Comments

[MagdalenaD]

09:19 PM on 04/24/2012

This is horrible. I am vegetarian. When I asked for vegan option they lied to me and used this beetle coloring. I am disgusted and sick to my stomach. I want my money back.

[Rad666]

01:23 PM on 04/20/2012

Starbugs?

[europeanmind]

12:20 PM on 04/20/2012

fake coffee, with fake Italian names, for fake suburban girls ,going to fake Italian Restaurants Chain and living in fake Tuscany homes, but around everycorner is Family owned Italian eatery with real Italian coffee withouth bugs

[rdk70816]

10:13 AM on 04/20/2012

Beetle extract? I am in no way a vegan, but I will drink no more coffee drinks from Starbucks. I don't want to be drinking beetles!

[cyanmanta]

02:16 AM on 04/20/2012

Someone want to tell these self-righteous vegans that there's no way to eat any food that contains any plant products without also eating bugs (and rodents), at least in miniscule quantities? There is no type of flour, cornmeal, millet, bulgar, whole oats, or any such product that is grown and harvested in such a way as to completely alleviate the chance of eating animal parts. It doesn't happen. If you're eating at all, you're eating animals in some small way. The only way to truly be vegan is to die of starvation; and if that's what you need to do to feel morally superior, be my guest.

[scythus]

08:49 AM on 04/20/2012

Actually you eat quite a few bugs just walking around during the course of the day...

[yourmuse]

10:27 AM on 04/20/2012

That doesn't mean they should deliberately place them there.

[FullFrontal]

08:33 AM on 04/18/2012

as a vegetarian that doesn't like starbucks, i'm not affected by this. BUT if i did drink those (and i imagine that if i did go to starbucks i would have gotten this because i like strawberry drinks), i am mad that they passed this off as a vegan product knowing full well that this wasn't even vegetarian. i understand that they want to go a more natural route, but why not use strawberry.......?

[Blogmudgeon]

10:12 PM on 04/04/2012

Some people are consumed by their beliefs and practices to the point of farce. Those running over to Change.org to sign petitions should make more productive use of their time--such as finding a life not filled with inane pursuits...

On, the irony of that last comment...

[Lindsgrace33]

11:39 AM on 04/04/2012

Aw man, now I am craving one of the birthday cake lollipops they sell.

[kcrom]

06:05 PM on 04/02/2012

Oh come on, the stuff is in everything we eat. I do not understand why they can't come up with something different, but until then, it is only going to freak out vegans. Why do we need to color stuff anyway?

[John Carman]

12:36 PM on 04/02/2012

As a raw vegan, I'd have to side with Starbucks position to use a natural food coloring, instead of relying on the toxic swill known as red dye no.40. But, as a raw vegan, I've never had interest in coffee, dairy or anything offered at Starbucks.

[Meow-chan]

03:29 AM on 04/02/2012

Oh damn. Quite sad that they are under fire for that.

[imanormalalien]

05:19 AM on 03/31/2012

Vegetarians really annoy me sometimes. God forbid a human eats an insect, it's better than artificial dyes. If they don't want it, they should either not request it, or not shop at Starbucks anymore. what next, they're going to want to stop restaurants from selling meals with meat?

[Rebecca Fetler]

10:43 AM on 03/31/2012

Harsh words, there. I guess as a psycho vegetarian myself it'd be too much to ask for just a wee bit more transparency from restaurants and other companies when it comes to the ingredients in their products. That's just too crazy--nobody would ever be able to deal with something like that...(but now that I know, I can stop complaining. As a rational, sane person, I know that I can just skip out on the strawberry flavored beverages and continue to enjoy everything else that I like about Starbucks. It's that simple.)

[SithRose]

03:29 PM on 03/31/2012

Out of curiosity, Rebecca, would you have known that Carmine dye was made of cochineal bugs before this? :)

I don't think vegetarians are insane. I think the evangelistic fundamentalist "You're evil if you don't agree with me" vegetarians and vegans are insane. :) I've known several vegetarians that had good, solid reasons that I can agree with for choosing not to eat meat. (And one of them was as simple as "I don't like preparing meat.")

It's not the diet that bugs me, it's the attitude SOME people have about that diet. :)

Personally, I'd much rather have the bugs in my beverages (that I don't drink anyhow) than Red #40 or other artificial dyes. I'd rather not have the dyes at all, but society's been trained into absurdly bright colors by the food and dye manufacturers.

[cira23]

11:14 AM on 03/31/2012

Please don't lump all vegetarians in the same category. To be fair, I could say that meat-eaters really annoy me sometimes, especially when they look at me like I said I like to torture puppies when I tell them that I'm a vegetarian. God forbid I don't want to consume the chemical-drenched flesh of a cruelly slaughtered animal.

[ginpowell]

05:14 PM on 03/31/2012

oh but it's so much fun!!

[shards91]

09:49 PM on 03/30/2012

The real issue is Starbucks' support of gay marriage. Check out the Dump Starbucks campagin to join the boycott until they adhere to the values of their customers!

[SithRose]

03:34 PM on 03/31/2012

I'm likely to buy myself a few more Starbucks treats than I normally would because they ARE supporting the values of THIS customer, thank you.

Love is not limited by gender lines. If my marriage is so weak that someone else's loving marriage will destroy it, perhaps I shouldn't have been married in the first place.

The happiness of my friends strengthens my world and my husband's. Shared joy is increased. The pain of watching someone lose everything because their beloved died suddenly is a pain that weakens all of us, regardless of gender.

Hatred and bigotry are not true family values. Love and acceptance are. This love happens between many, many kinds of animals. It is a natural thing. It does not endanger the love and security between my husband and myself. We rejoice that our friends are able to share the same bonds of love and security that we share.

[MrBlanch]

09:42 PM on 03/31/2012

Boycott all you want. We don't want to see you in a Starbucks anyway.

[TomMartin]

08:02 PM on 03/30/2012

I read in a new book by Dinesh D'Souza, that according to research, insects are not able to feel pain, for example when some animal starts eating them, the insects continue eating whatever they were eating. So I guess it is not unethical to eat insects, like the beetles used in this Starbucks drink.

[catcancook]

02:18 PM on 03/30/2012

I think I'd rather have their iced lemon pound cake myself. I'm sure real lemons were harmed in the making of that pound cake but that's ok with me.

[J0E1]

03:18 PM on 03/30/2012

The pounding the lemons take for that cake is unacceptable.

[catcancook]

03:33 PM on 03/30/2012

You got me! I'm so careless about the pain that cute yellow fruit has to go thru to make me happy aren't I? I'm so bad...because I'm going to keep buying that lemon pound cake regardless. LOL ;)