Those Starbucks customers who were concerned about having a totally vegan diet will soon be able to enjoy a Strawberry Frappuccino again.  After wide-spread news, Starbucks has announced that they will be removing cochineal extract from their strawberry sauce, and ultimately all of their products.  As many may recall, this was described in the news as an extract from beetles or “crushed bugs.”  Here’s a Seattle Times article on this change.

Here is the official announcement:

MyStarbucksIdea.com blogs – Cochineal extract update article by Cliff Burrows, President of Starbucks Americas.

While I personally was never offended by the use of cochineal extract, I think that it is impressive how swiftly Starbucks is acting to respond to their vegan customers.  And I can easily support the idea of a more natural food coloring alternative in the strawberry sauce.

I realize this update has already been spread widely in the news, but it is important enough that I decided to mention it here.

(I categorized this under Cliff Burrows.)