Caribou Coffee To Cut Artificial Ingredients From Products

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — Twin Cities-based Caribou Coffee has announced it will begin offering beverages without artificial colors, artificial flavors, artificial sweeteners, artificial preservatives, monosodium glutamate(MSG) or high fructose corn syrup to its beverages.

The company said all beverages will be made with "Clean Label" ingredients by 2018.

For several years, the coffee company has been making improvements to its products.

Caribou was the first national coffeehouse company to offer 100 percent Rainforest Alliance beans in 2012, according to the company.

In January of 2016, the brand introduced real caramel sauce and real vanilla syrup, made with only four ingredients: pure cane sugar, water, natural vanilla flavor and Madagascar vanilla beans extract.

"Offering premium great tasting drinks for our guests has long been in our DNA," Michele Vig, President of Caribou Coffee, said in a statement. "Through our Clean Label commitment, all Caribou Coffee drinks will be made using only Clean Label ingredients by 2018."

The company says its "Clean Label commitment" means creating handcrafted beverages without adding:

• Artificial flavors
• Artificial preservatives
• Artificial sweeteners

Caribou created an "Off-Limit list" of ingredients which will not be added to its beverages.

Ingredients like high fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated oils, artificial colors, aspartame and many others will not be added into any Caribou Coffee beverage, according to a news release.

Caribou said it began working on a specific Clean Label plan in February of 2014, and currently 91 percent of Caribou Coffee's handcrafted beverages are made with "Clean Label" ingredients.

The company stated the remaining 9 percent of beverages (those made with chai, sugar-free chocolate syrup, and two toppings) will meet Caribou's Clean Label standard by the end of 2018.

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