On Sunday we referred to some of the great April Fools Day hoaxes: Taco Bell’s “purchase” and renaming of the Liberty Bell in 1996; the “Left-Handed Whooper” of 1998; Starbuck’s “Plenta” and “Micra” sizes in 2010; 2012’s Google’s “Street Roo” in Australia and crushed cochineal bugs in Starbuck’s Strawberry Frappuccinos. O wait. That last one isn’t a hoax. It is true.
Starbucks has gone all natural and replaced artificial colouring with all natural ingredients by using the residue from crushed cochineal bugs to add a pink hue to their Strawberry Fraps. The move is bugging Vegans because the Fraps aren’t Vegan anymore.
Bugs from mainly Mexico and South America are dried out before they are ground and used in the Frappuccino drink. As stomach-turning as it may sound, the ingredient is in fact harmless. Commonly used to help liven up the dull hues of jams, meats, cheese, baked goods, and more, cochineal extract has been used as a colouring agent in food and drinks for centuries.
Mmmmm…sometimes truth is harder to swallow than fiction. For me…I’ll make mine a “Plenta Frap.” No foolin’.
