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Pinkberry's Dirty Little Secret Revealed
Pinkberry Pinkberry, the most hated and revered fro-yo chain. Are you pinkberry or are you stinkberry? Are you good for me or bad? There's been so much Pinkberry news lately, it's tough to keep track of it all.
Here's the timeline of events:
- Pinkberry becomes wildly popular - so popular, many begin to wonder about its oddly addictive qualities and the big question finally gets asked: just what the hell is this I'm eating?
- Pinkberry is slapped with a lawsuit, as a customer claims their fro-yo concoction is more fro, less yo. The suit alleges that Pinkberry is not frozen yogurt at all - that is is not healthy, that it is not all-natural and that it is not non-fat.
- Pinkberry denies these claims, but agrees to pay $750,000 to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, a food collection agency and to Paras Los Niños, a nonprofit family service organization, plus $5,000 and legal fees to the woman who filed suit.
- As part of the lawsuit Pinkberry reveals their ingredients and the big scary question is finally answered. Just what the hell are you eating? Propylene glycol esters, guar gum, Yellow 5 Lake, monodiglycerides, sodium citrate, sodium acid pyrophosphate, magnesium oxide, lactoglyceride and a bunch of other unsavory chemicals which are now listed in their full glory at Pinkberry's website.
- Just when we're beginning to regret all those late night Pinkberry visits and the bold pronouncement of our dirty little secret, the National Yogurt Association adds a twist to the story by declaring that Pinkberry is yogurt after all. Despite that nasty list of chemicals recently revealed, the frozen concoction contains the fro-yo holy grail: live & active cultures. A technicality, maybe, but it turns out Pinkberry is both fro and yo.
Good thing we've recently kicked our Pinkberry addiction and found a new one: Cefiore tempered with a dash of Red Mango. We've not heard back from Cefiore on their list of ingredients (their website reveals little), but Red Mango has also received the National Yogurt Association's stamp of yogurt approval.
Yet all this talk of chemicals and manufactured food products - on Earth Day no less - has us thinking about the larger impact of such fake foods on our environment, on our bodies. Whatever happened to actual yogurt? We're thinking that's a much better bet. You?
Previously:
Is Pinkberry Fakeberry?
Pinkberry + Starbucks+ $27.5 Million = Kiss of Death
Pinkberry: What's the Big Deal?
My Dirty Little Secret: I Love Pinkberry
Photo by e.t. via Flickr
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