Tata Starbucks to stop using banned ingredients

After some trouble importing a number of popular ingredients and confectionaries, Tata Starbucks has announced that they will only use ingredients that have been improved by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).

Tata Starbucks is a joint venture between Tata Global Beverages and Starbucks, and they are one of the biggest coffee chains in India, though they lag some way behind the popular native brand Café Coffee Day.

“In line with the FSSAI guidelines,” the company began in a statement, “Tata Starbucks has initiated the suspension of applicable ingredients from certain products served in our India stores.”

No specific ingredients were named, but they are widely believed to be those on a governmental blacklist that was released earlier this month. According to The Indian Express – who broke the original story – many of the items within the FSSAI’s document were barred for containing extremely high levels of sugar, salt and, in some instances, heavy metal. (And no, we don’t mean the guitar shredding kind of heavy metal.)

“These actions ensure that we are able to continue delivering the unique Starbucks Experience to our customers without disruption,” the statement continued.

When asked by members of the Indian press to comment on the story, CEO Avani Davda said: “As a premium global retailer, Starbucks has the highest standards for the experience, beverages and food we offer our customers and we are committed to complying with the regulations in every market we operate in.”

This isn’t the first time that Tata Starbucks has fallen foul of the FSSAI.

Readers may remember that the company had their problems last year when a large shipment of flavoured syrups from the United States had been seized by the local authorities. That time Starbucks were able to plead their case to the local courts, something which they successfully managed, but it seems this time was a bridge too far.

But with the change, will they come a cropper with the authorities once more?