Josh Stein, the attorney general of North Carolina, focused on the harm that can experience from robocalls. Puroast Coffee Company, which is situated in High Point, North Carolina, has complained to Stein, claiming that Starbucks coffee is tainted with chemicals, misleading customers by forcibly altering the flavor of its product.
The National Kidney Foundation generally deems an 8-ounce cup of coffee with an average potassium content of about 116 mg to be safe. It advises drinking no more than three cups of coffee every day. However, if people with kidney illness are unaware of the excess potassium, it could potentially hurt them. Potassium levels that are elevated don’t pose a typical food safety risk. Elevated potassium levels in the blood may be harmful to people who have kidney disease. Hyperkalemia is a condition that can occur as a result.
In 76 different countries, Starbucks has 28,000 physical stores, and last year the company celebrated its 50th anniversary. Puroast has accused Starbucks Corporation of adulterating some of its 100% Arabica Coffees with high quantities of potassium without telling customers about it.
With just one location in Seattle’s Pike Place Market, Starbucks started out in 1971 and quickly expanded into a massive corporation. Starbucks dismisses the Puroast allegation, noting that its smaller competitor boasts on its website to have 7 times more antioxidants and 70% less acid than other coffees. The Starbucks perspective is that Puroast may be attempting to hurt a more significant rival in its local markets.
According to Purcoast, Salem A. Ibrahim, Ph.D., identified the high potassium levels in bags of Starbucks Dark French Roast Coffee collected from local grocery stores in August. Independent laboratory examinations of the Starbucks coffees verified the presence of unusually elevated potassium levels.
Normal quantities of potassium are found in foods like coffee and other foods, but Ibrahim claimed that the levels detected in Starbucks coffee could not be statistically explained as an organic departure because they greatly exceeded those of other national coffee brands.
Kerry Sachs, the CEO of Puroast Coffee, feels that Ibrahim’s conclusions are irrefutable. Adding potassium to roasted coffee at Starbucks has substantially changed the acidity and flavor of the drink. It is unprecedented deceit by a major brand that has broad ramifications for customer confidence in the purity of coffee. Adding buffers like potassium to coffee can lessen its acidity and bitterness. The disclosure of flavoring or other non-coffee substances by coffee companies is essential.
The complaint has been forwarded to the North Carolina Department of Agriculture for the state’s initial investigation by Attorney General Stein. Meanwhile, in California, Starbucks won the dismissal of a consumer case accusing it of serving maggots.