Starbucks’ Insect Dye Causes Controversy Among Vegans

Starbucks is learning the hard way that you just can’t please everyone. A few weeks ago, a vegan news and advocacy website, This Dish Is Veg, posted an article urging readers to beware of the Strawberry Frappuccino because it contains coloring made of dried cochineal insects, rendering it not vegan-friendly.

The site sent an email to Starbucks about its use of the dye. The company responded via email explaining that the switch was made as part of an effort to minimize the use of artificial dyes in its drinks and acknowledged that it does, in fact, realize that the Frappuccino is not vegan friendly. According to USA Today, this particular insect dye is a common additive in the industry, used in many food products, like Yoplait yogurt and Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts. Sorry, vegans, it looks like processed red food is a no-go, unless you want to ingest lots of chemicals.