Most people today like to have at least a general idea of what they are eating or drinking on a regular basis. It is easy enough to flip the package over and read over the list of ingredients pasted to the side. But if you’re looking to find that sort of information on your Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks, you can forget it. It is nearly impossible to get the ingredient list from the company. When an inquiry is made as to what the latte is made of customers are directed to their website where the caloric values and fat content are provided but there is nearly no indication of what has actually been put into the beverage. You can find a lovely little description of the beverage on the side that reads “Cinnamon, nutmeg, clove? Check. Creamy milk for a delicious taste and texture? Check. Real pumpkin pie spices atop whipped cream? Check,” but nothing more.
When the right strings were pulled and an employee deep within the Starbucks corporation did reveal what the popular latte is made of, it was not at all surprising to see the list of scary ingredients. After all, why would the company be so secretive if they had nothing to hide? The first danger on the long list is the coloring used to obtain that signature creamy brown liquid, Caramel Color Level IV. There are two doses in each tall Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks. The coloring is made from ammonia and has long been considered a carcinogen. When tested by a U.S. Government funded study, it was found to almost always cause lung cancer or leukemia. The milk used in the drink is Monsanto milk meaning it comes from cows fed with food containing Carrageenan, a stabilizer that is also a known carcinogen. There are no natural flavors in the drink. Instead, they come from artificial products made of petroleum. Arguably the scariest fact uncovered is that the latte can never truly be made vegan unlike what customers are told by the company and by employees in individual shops. The base for the drink is made with condensed conventional milk meaning that when someone orders the beverage with soy-milk it is still not vegan and cannot be made so.
To add to the list, there is not one drop of pumpkin anything, puree, extract, etc, anywhere in the beverage. When you order your tall Pumpkin Spice Latte this season you’ll only find cancerous chemicals and a splash of lies. You can find more information on the lies spread by the Starbucks company on foodbabe.com, where I was able to learn about the horrors within the Pumpkin Spice Latte. You can also look on the Starbucks official website to see the lack of information provided.