Starbucks customers bugged, company nixes insect dye – Eatocracy - CNN.com Blogs

Starbucks customers bugged, company nixes insect dye – Eatocracy - CNN.com Blogs — Mon, 13 May 2013 15:52:43 GMT

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re: Cochineal Extract Update

Vancouver BCEE — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 08:23:36 GMT

I'm not phased by cochineal; it's harmless, all-natural and sort of neat.

My Starbucks Idea Year End Review

Customer — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 18:36:48 GMT

This is the time of year for reflection and celebrating the highlights of 2012. We love hearing what

re: Cochineal Extract Update

cupcakefreak — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 02:25:03 GMT

food dye in strawberry Frappuccino? why not just add um.. uh... REAL STRAWBERRIES!!!

re: Cochineal Extract Update

cupcakefreak — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 02:24:51 GMT

food dye in strawberry Frappuccino? why not just add um.. uh... REAL STRAWBERRIES!!!

re: Cochineal Extract Update

StarbucksFan19 — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 18:58:23 GMT

We're so glad to hear cochineal or carmine has been removed as a food additive at Starbucks. I had my first and hopefully last experience with consuming cochineal in "naturally" colored red velvet cake, which caused me to have a severe allergic reaction (the first one in my life)! The reaction was so serious I ended up in the hospital emergency with severe analyphalaxis! Please read up on cochineal and it's known connection to severe allergic reactions.

re: Cochineal Extract Update

sgar919 — Tue, 01 May 2012 04:08:10 GMT

As I mentioned in my 3/30 comment re: the issue of the cochineal extract, it is nice to see a company respond so well to customer feedback and be open to new ideas. However, having said that, as a leading food retailer who serves millions around the world, to me you missed a huge opportunity here to make a real difference in our industrial food chain. Because the unfortunate reality is that in the grand scheme of atrocities in industrial food production, cochineal extract is a drop in the bucket. While it may have satisfied your vegan customers, none of your strawberry products (even AFTER you reformulate them with lycopene) will fit the marketing image that you’re trying to project of being a “socially responsible”, “green” company.

The point I was trying to make in my 3/30 comment is that you could have (still could if it’s not too late) use this opportunity (while reformulating your strawberry products) to substitute what I consider to be a MUCH more harmful substance in these products than cochineal extract -- the (genetically engineered) MAIN ingredient of the SOY ITSELF! (that by definition means exposure to chemical herbicides, insecticides and other potentially harmful chemicals) --- PARTICULARLY given that young children are consuming many of these products (a population where autism has skyrocketed in just the last few years to where it now affects 1 out of every 88 children born in the U.S. – and is almost certainly the result of our increased reliance on pesticides which are known neurotoxins, in particular to embryos).

So if you were REALLY SERIOUS about wanting to be “socially responsible”, “green”, your company would be switching to organic foods. “Natural” is NOT the same as “organic”. In fact to the contrary, companies use the term “natural” as a marketing gimmick to fool customers into thinking foods are “organic” so that they can charge them/get them to pay significantly more for a product which in reality is no better quality than anything you’d get in a McDonald’s take-out (and the even sadder thing is that most people reading this will have absolutely no idea what the significance of any of this is because it’s still not common knowledge – which is all the MORE reason why it’s such an important cause).

I completely disagree with earlier commenters who said that large scale demands chemical and other additives. This is not the case; there are very good (and large) companies who have already shown how it's possible to do without them (Stonyfield and Applegate to name just two). Even Panera makes their yogurt up fresh each day using real strawberries.

Starbucks – your actions and your products do not match your marketing image. Be a REAL “change agent” -- a true leader that inspires others to also want to make our food supply safer and the future of our food sustainable. Anything less than this is just a marketing gimmick to make more money at the expense of your customers’ health.