Discussion Board

Vegans bash Starbucks for beetle coloring in frappuccinos

Starbucks has the vegan community seeing red over what it recently began using to color its Strawberry Frappuccinos: beetles.

That's beetles as in ground up cochineal beetles — mostly found in Mexico and South America.

Gross as that may sound, it's a common, government-approved food coloring used widely throughout the food industry. It's in everything from some Yoplait yogurts to three Kellogg's Pop-Tarts flavors.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industrie ... 53839006/1

http://www.thisdishisvegetarian.com/201 ... creme.html

I think we need to worry what's in the actual frap - the bug juice should be the least of health concerns!

Truly. I posted about this issue under another thread. Bugs in your coffee is just the tip of the iceberg. Bugs, rodent hairs, poop, etc. end up in everything - including things you might think safe like frozen broccoli.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=28561

I was watching a video on the VSH website a while back by Dr. Milton Mills (I think). He listed on one side of the board things that people get themselves worked up about (think pink slime, 'Starbugs', etc) and on the other side things that actually will kill you. The two lists had no overlap.

Kate

Yes. That beetle's shell i--and has long been--used in commercial and cultural foods, as well as make-up and faux precious stones.

I learned about this in elementary school, around age 7.

I'm 22 now. I'm surprised at how surprised everyone is. If there's dairy in the frapp, there's also cow pus. Wooptifriggindo.

I'd eat a bug if I were hungry enough.


Really, really hungry.

Even if they didn't use bugs on purpose, I have always suspected they were in the machines anyway. That goes for fountain drinks too. I used to work in the cafeteria when I was in college and even though we cleaned the machines out every night, bugs would get in them anyway. I once got a cup of coffee out of a vending machine and as I was finishing it I thought it had coffee grounds in the bottom of the cup----except they were really tiny little roaches and bug body parts. I almost puked my socks off.

OK I'll take the bait--what things that will actually kill you?

This was the talk:
Are Humans Designed to Eat Meat?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH-hs2v-UjI
This is a GREAT lecture and should be watched by anyone with a recalcitrate relative. Preferrably BY the relative.

Anyway...

Dr. Mills shows a slide with the things that people fear the most. They are:

Terrorism
Violent Crime
Accidents (plane crash)
Scary Disease d'jour (whatever the media is on about at the time)

What people fear is lack of control.

Then he shows a list of what people actually die from:

Cardiovascular Disease
Cancer
Stroke
Accidents (Auto)
Diabetes
Obesity

80% of these deaths could be prevented through diet and lifestyle changes. So those thing we CAN control we don't fear - and we should.

Kate

Never been to a Starbucks myself... but we do roast our own bug free beans for my daily 1/2 cup coffee...