I’m not one for fancy over-priced drinks. But it’s still nice to know that if I want a treat, one is available. I hadn’t tried the Starbucks’ Soy Strawberries & Creme Frappuccino and will certainly not be drinking it after discovering its ingredients in this article.

listed under ingredients you will find cochineal extract. It sounds like a natural product, perhaps extracted from a tree or a root; but in fact, cochineal extract is a red dye made out of dried and crushed female cochineal insects. According to PETA it can take as many as 70,000 cochineal insects to produce 1 pound of red dye. Here’s a nifty visual of the cochineal from Wikipedia.

Don’t know about you but I’ll stick with a soy cappuccino thanks.

You can sign a petition asking Starbucks to stop using bugs in their strawberry flavored drinks here.