Pinkberry Comes Clean on “All Natural” Ingredients

April 23, 2008 at 5:39 pm in Food & Drink

*Photo by Flickr user roboppy, used under Creative Commons*

In the wake of settling of the class action lawsuit filed against them last year, fad-waiting-to-disappear Pinkberry has finally posted the ingredients list for its frozen food product and it turns out that early claims to being “all natural” are so much bunk. As the NY Times reported:

The list includes at least five additives defined by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization as emulsifiers (propylene glycol esters, lactoglycerides, sodium acid pyrophosphate, mono- and diglycerides); four acidifiers (magnesium oxide, calcium fumarate, citric acid, sodium citrate); tocopherol, a natural preservative; and two ingredients — starch and maltodextrin — that were characterized as fillers by Dr. Gary A. Reineccius, a professor in the department of food science and nutrition at the University of Minnesota and an expert in food additives.

Some of them can be characterized as natural, while others are clearly not, he said.

Pinkberry has even gone so far as to admit that “some of the claims it made when its stores first opened could not be backed up.” Still, while they’re paying the plaintiff’s legal fees and donating some cash to charity, they insist they’ve done nothing wrong.

7 Comments »

jeremymiles

What I particularly like is the way that they count things like the calories, sugar, etc. It’s done per serving. Which is nice.

Except that a small, errmm, pot is 1.4 servings.
http://helenjupiter.com/ Helen Jupiter

Neither appetizing nor surprising.
http://noirbettie.com/blog/ Annika Barranti

Well, I feel totally validated.
Matt Mason

But not a speck of cereal. This sounds like the worst of both worlds. The stuff tastes like yogurt, which many people find less pleasant than the taste of ice cream or other frozen sweet treats, but apparently it has few or none of the health benefits of yogurt, certainly fewer than we were led to believe when it debuted.
http://militantangeleno.blogspot.com militantangeleno

RED MANGO RED MANGO RED MANGO RED MANGO RED MANGO RED MANGO RED MANGO RED MANGO RED MANGO RED MANGO RED MANGO RED MANGO RED MANGO RED MANGO RED MANGO RED MANGO RED MANGO RED MANGO RED MANGO RED MANGO RED MANGO RED MANGO
http://frazgomeanders.blogspot.com frazgo

It always cracks me up when I see the “deny wrong doing” after they walk around with their pants around their ankles for months and facts being given to consumers.

Reminds me again why I like the little local guys doing the real deal instead of mass produced crap preserved to death so it is “shelf stable” and consistent in every store. blehhhhh…
http://tokyofarm.com Spencer Cross

Reminds me again why I like the little local guys doing the real deal instead of mass produced crap preserved to death so it is “shelf stable” and consistent in every store. blehhhhh…

Well, to be fair, they did start with a single store in West Hollywood and as far as I know are still privately owned. Obviously they’ve grown, but it’s not like we’re talking about a giant conglomerate.

Pinkberry Comes Clean on “All Natural” Ingredients

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