First, Vani Hari convinced Chick-fil-A to ditch the corn syrup. Then, she took Subway to task for including azodicarbonamide – "the yoga mat ingredient" – in their bread. Now, she's tackling everyone's favorite fall Starbucks order: the Pumpkin Spice Latte.
On Monday, Hari published a post on her popular blog The Food Babe titled "You’ll Never Guess What’s In A Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte (Hint: You Won’t Be Happy)." While Hari details the difficulty to finding an exact list of ingredients for the Pumpkin Spice Latte and other Starbucks drinks, the ingredients she does find are disappointing. The sweet beverage contains Caramel Color Level IV, artificial flavors, preservatives and a lot of sugar. The one thing that isn't in the Pumpkin Spice Latte is pumpkin.
Hari ends the post with a call to action for her readers to contact Starbucks demanding the coffee chain remove additives, sign a petition asking for organic milk at Starbucks and to share the blog post so others can put pressure on the coffee chain to make changes. The post has already racked up more than 346,000 Facebook likes and 580 comments.
Hari has been blogging about Starbucks since 2012, with a special focus on the caramel coloring that Starbucks uses in its Frappuccinos and a number of other products. While the use of caramel coloring is currently approved by the FDA, Hari believes that caramel coloring is "one of the most hazardous chemicals being added to our food." Studies have found that the additive increases risk of certain types of cancer in mice and the International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies byproduct 4-Mel as "possibly carcinogenic to humans."
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