Starbucks Corp. announced to reformulating its products after an online campaign asked for the insect extract ingredient in its foods and drinks to be removed.
The company admitted on Thursday of its error and promised to replace it with a tomato-based extract instead.
By the end of June, the cochineal insect colorant derived from a tropical bug particularly found in Mexico and South America, which is used in frappuccinos and pastries will be replaced with a tomato extract called lycopene.
A post from Bloomberg suggests that vegan groups and public relations gurus criticized the Seattle-based company of using a dye from insects. It was in January when the world’s largest coffee shop chain started switching artificial coloring to using beetle extract in its Strawberries & Creme Frappuccino, Strawberry Banana Smoothie, raspberry swirl cake, birthday cake pop, mini doughnut with pink icing and red velvet whoopee pie.
Cliff Burrows, the company’s U.S. president said “We’ve learned that we fell short of your expectations by using natural cochineal extract as a colorant.” He added in his statement that the company will now do better to keep up with consumers’ expectations.
