Starbugs? Vegan launches recall campaign over Starbucks bug-based drink coloring

A lot of people are pretty bugged about Starbucks using crushed insects, or cochineal extract, to color strawberry drinks. And the creator of a growing online petition tells the Ross and Burbank Show she’s calling on the company to stop using the extract in place of red dye.

South Carolina resident Daelyn Fortney runs a blog for vegans and vegetarians, and tells Luke and guest host David Boze eating insects is definitely not on her preferred menu.

“Any life is life to me, as far as many vegans, go all living creatures, all animals and insects they’re are all on equal ground. If you don’t have to consume it, you don’t want to,” she says.

News of Starbucks’ silent switch to cochineal extract broke big this week after Fortney says she was tipped off by a Starbucks barista.

She insists it’s not so much a protest as an effort to get the word out about what’s coloring your Strawberry Frappuccino.

“It’s not something I’m trying to push on anybody. It’s just to be able to put the information out there about what’s in the drink, that was our main purpose.”

Fortney wants Starbucks to replace the bug-based coloring with a plant-based dye instead.

“You know there’s beets, there’s black carrot, there’s purple sweet potato,” she says.

Starbucks has remained silent about the story since it broke.

-Josh Kerns/My Northwest.com