Starbucks refuses to give written nutritional info

Posted by matriarchy, July 18, 2008 at 3:08 PM

When Starbucks announced the new Vivanno drinks, I hustled to see what was in them. Orange Mango Banana Blend, from website:

"Made with a whole banana blended with all natural Naked® Juice made exclusively for Starbucks, our proprietary whey protein & fiber powder, 2% milk and ice."

That's not a specific ingredient list. Exactly what is in "whey protein & fiber powder". What's in the Naked Juice blend? I avoid soy for medical reasons, so I sent a website inquiry, asking if the new drinks had any soy product in them. I also asked about the Chai Latte I usually order.

Today's email reply: "Due to the nature of your inquiry, we are unable to provide an ideal response via email. Therefore, we would like the opportunity to provide/gather more information in order to best assist you. Please call our customer relations department at 1-800-235-2883."

Odd. Seems to me, that was a yes/no question.

So I called, and was told they don't give any nutritional information in writing. In fact, the customer relations rep could not answer the question. She said she had to refer it to another department for research and call me back, requiring me to leave a phone number. If I could not leave a phone number, I could not have an answer. Not even for the Chai drinks they have sold for years. I suggested adding specific info to their website, but she reiterated the no-info-in-writing policy.

WTF? What kind of food service business refuses to provide written nutritional information? About ALLERGENS? Does that meant they plan to lie, and don't want to be trapped by independent testing? The whole goal of a franchise business is to provide a uniform experience across the brand, so they *must* have ingredient specifications written down somewhere.

I was only an occasional Starbucks customer - but now I am not a customer at all. Their policy implies there is something weird or false going on with ingredients. Ick!

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