Starbucks Removing Gluten From Frappucino Lights
My wonderful neighborhood Starbucks manager keeps me informed of the gluten comings and goings at Starbucks. A recent corporate email has informed stores that the gluten containing Frappuccino Light Base, introduced in May of 2010, will no longer be made with gluten. This dairy base is used in the prep of Starbucks Frappuccino Lights only. The regular Frappuccino base has not ever contained gluten.
The gluten free light base will be phased in to stores as the old inventory is used up, so CHECK with your location before ordering. The old bottle says “Contains: Gluten” in bold under the ingredients panel on the bottle and the new ones don’t. Ask to see it yourself if you want to confirm it before you order. They showed me the old bottle back when it was introduced, and I saw the new bottle, which is already being used in my local store, today. You’re looking for an allergen statement following the ingredients that says, “Contains: Gluten,” or that doesn’t say that.
Starbucks maintains their “official” position that they can’t guarantee gluten free status for any of their drinks since they serve gluten-containing foods, but the option to purchase is of course, up to you. “If you have an allergen concern, please feel free to ask our baristas to check the ingredient labels or click on our Customer Service page. We cannot guarantee that any of our beverages are allergen free because we use shared equipment and handle allergens throughout the store.”
The chocolate chips used in the Java Chip Frappuccino and the Double Chocolate Chip Frappuccino still contain wheat, so avoid those, and ask for a clean pitcher to be used if you choose to order a Frappuccino at Starbucks and are worried about cross contamination. The other syrups, including mocha, don’t contain gluten.
Thanks for the update nancy! Greatly appreciate it!!! Can’t believe it took them 18 Months though. I personally have issues with the caramel syrup. A lot of companies reemmber to declare wheat, but forget to declare barley in their “natural flavorings” and I’ve noticed barley shows up in caramel syrups a lot. Perhaps other people don’t react, but I just thought I’d mention it in case. Glad to see they are phasing it out. thanks again!
The vanilla powder and the mocha mix contain another allergen: vanillin (a synthetic vanilla ester to make things vanilla-flavored), I am gluten free but also react to this, so if anyone else is allergic to vanillin, I would still check labels
The thing about the syrups not containing gluten isn’t true, almost all of their syrups contain gluten. Almost of of Sbux syrups have carmel coloring and carmel coloring is almost always achieve through a process that uses wheat. The classic, pepermint and the mocha are safe. It took me awhile to figure out why I was getting sick after every skinny vanilla latte.
Tracy- so they say – the caramel color doesn’t contain gluten. That is really an old process that is not usually used anymore. It doesn’t mean you couldn’t have gotten sick from it – but probably not because of gluten.
“ Registered dietitian Shelley Case, who is on the medical advisory board of the Celiac Disease Foundation
Therefore, Shelley says, “Caramel color is an acceptable ingredient on the gluten-free diet and does not need to be restricted.”
http://celiacdisease.about.com/od/celiacdiseasefaqs/f/Caramel_Coloring.htm
I thought the lite fraps were already gf & I’ve never been affected. I applaud Starbux efforts!!! Bting back the Valencia orange cakes!! They freeze well!!!
Yes, I agree with the top comments, there is still caramel coloring, and although it is considered gluten free, there still is gluten under 20ppm of caramel coloring, so techically there is still gluten. My hair falls out when I have caramel coloring.
As the Starbucks customer service representative rather rudely told me when I called the 800 number to inquire about the Pumpkin Spice Latte flavoring, “Starbucks cannot and will not state that any menu item, including plain brewed coffee, is gluten-free because of cross-contamination.” When I asked her if Starbucks had plans to educate their baristas on Celiac disease and cross-contamination, she said no. I asked her if Starbucks would consider dedicated GF blender containers in each store, and she said no. The lady must have been having a bad day, because she said “We advise everyone with ‘that problem’ to just avoid Starbucks. Starbucks isn’t concerned with this issue”. Wow. I wonder how that would change if the CEO had a celiac family member? I always appreciate honesty, but it could have been done more politely.
Wow- that is really rude. As I stated in the article, they do maintain that position corporately that “nothing is gluten free” because they serve gluten containing pastries, but many locations are informed and perfectly willing to clean a pitcher if you request it. Mostly all the drink ingredients are gluten free except for chips. Your best bet if you’re even interested in continuing to go there, is to talk to your store manager and read the containers yourself. They are one company definitely scared off by the large and growing group of people calling with those “cross contamination” questions. My location(s), though, are quite accommodating and willing to answer and even learn.
Thank you for the information Nancy. I asked my local barista to see the ingredients for the new SB skinny mochas and it listed natural flavours. Do you happen to know if the new light mochas are gluten free?
Thanks for this helpful info. Do you have any information on the syrups used in the espresso drinks? I realize this is about the frappucino base for those drinks.
There’s definitely something about my sugar free soy lattes that my body is unhappy about.
Hi Stacy- as of the writing of this post last September, the syrups had no gluten ingredients. I’ll check again with my local one – the manager will show me the labels. I’ll update you asap. ~nancy
That’s fantastic! Thank you!
I didn’t realized until I drank a light frap that it had gluten in it. Didn’t take long though to notice. So glad they are accommodating those of us who can’t tolerate the gluten!
Wow. I never tho I would be happy to be told I have a disease but since I was born 43years ago I know I was born with Celiacs….it wasnt until my wife found kathy hasselbacks book she saw on the view that my life changed for the better. Starbucks is one of the things i dreaded having to give up…well now because of this awesome site and all of ur posts here I am at this moment drinkin a frapp and I am not gettin sick….sounds to those who dont suffer from gluten issues like no big deal….lol….but u all know what im saying when I express excitment over being able to order out somewhere and not have to worry I might be posioned. Thx so much for this website
I was having a lot of trouble with my morning coffee which seemed to make me more tired rather than helping me wake up. I was adding about a half teaspoon of the Starbucks hot cocoa mix. After several days of feeling awful, I checked the label. There it was. The hot cocoa mix is manufactured in a facility that also processes wheat. As soon as I stopped adding the cocoa to my coffee, I felt better. All that to say that if the cocoa mix contains that statement, all the powdered mixes are probably processed in that same facility. Today while at Starbucks, the nice manager called to find out the GF status of the mochas. She was told they could not guarantee that it is GF due to the fact that the mix is processed in a facility that also processes wheat.
FYI – I have been a Celiac for years, and have rarely had any problems with accidental consumption of Gluten … until today. I went in to my neighborhood Starbucks, ordered my usual coffee: Venti White Mocha, 1/2 caff, nonfat, no whip, 2 pumps stirred. I also ordered a Java Chip Frappucino to go for a friend, recommended by my usual trusted barista. At his urging to taste it, I took maybe 3 sips of it. Never thinking about gluten … as I had been told the frappucino mixes were gluten free. Hours later. My throat began to close up, my tongue and lip burning & tingling, my whole breaking out in a rash, and feeling the stings of a 1000 wasps. I’m standing in the grocery store as this is happening and realize I left my purse and Epi-Pen in the car. I quickly grabbed a bottle of Benadryl off the store shelf, opened it up, and gulped half of it down. My husband looked at me in utter astonishment. But could see by my swollen lips that I was in trouble. Within 15 minutes or so, I began to get a little relief. Hours later, I am still stinging. I racked my brain all evening trying to figure out what I consumed differently today that caused my reaction — forgetting that I had sampled the frappucino. In trying to figure out what caused my reaction — I came acrosee the article on this page … thanks for sharing.