Starbucks Changes Dye In Strawberry Drink Vegetarians and others were highly distressed after finding out that Starbucks uses a red coloring in some of its drinks that's made from crushed bugs. An online protest campaign delivered thousands of angry emails to Starbucks headquarters.

Starbucks Changes Dye In Strawberry Drink

Starbucks Changes Dye In Strawberry Drink

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/151017981/151018147" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Vegetarians and others were highly distressed after finding out that Starbucks uses a red coloring in some of its drinks that's made from crushed bugs. An online protest campaign delivered thousands of angry emails to Starbucks headquarters.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

And today's last word in business is: tall, strawberry frappuccino. Hold the bugs.

Vegetarians and others were highly distressed after finding out that Starbucks uses a red coloring in some of its drinks that's made from crushed bugs - the juice of a tiny beetle. Of course, these days when people get mad they go online, and this online protest campaign delivered thousands of angry emails to Starbucks headquarters. And Starbucks caved. Yesterday, the company announced it will no longer used bug-based coloring in its drinks and desserts. That's where the world is today. It takes a protest campaign to make a company stop feeding you bugs. Instead, it will color its strawberry frappuccino, strawberry-banana smoothie and red velvet whoopee pie with tomato-based ingredients.

That's the business news on MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.

LYNN NEARY, HOST:

And I'm Lynn Neary.

Copyright © 2012 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.