Starbucks Less Organic, Goes rBGH-Free

Jan 22 | archive | subscribe

Starbucks will no longer be offering organic milk in its outlets as of next month, blaming lack of demand for the decision to switch back to non-organic and as it has converted to dairy products produced without the use of rBGH, thereby eliminating the primary reason our customers ordered organic.

Starbucks has announced that it is moving forward with its long-promised plans to serve only milk produced by cows free of the artificial hormone known as rBGH (recombinant bovine growth hormone).

A Starbucks spokesperson said: ‘In the US we began offering organic milk in 2001 as an interim solution for customers who wanted milk that was sourced without the use of rBGH. At the time, offering organic milk was the best way that we could address customer requests surrounding synthetic growth hormones used by some dairy farmers.’

The move comes after Starbucks was targeted in a campaign by consumer groups critical of the use of rBGH, which is given as a supplement to dairy cows to increase milk production.

Bovine somatotropin (abbreviated bST and BST) is a protein hormone produced in the pituitary glands of cattle. It is also called bovine growth hormone, or BGH. BST can be produced synthetically, using recombinant DNA technology. This is called "recombinant bovine somatotropin" (rBST) or "recombinant bovine growth hormone" (rBGH). It is administered to the cow by injection.

Around six per cent of Starbucks’ coffee is certified Fairtrade, making Starbucks the largest buyer of certified Fairtrade coffee in North America (10 percent of the global market). starbucks.com