Fall drinks

Kashrut Starbucks
1

Hi there,

I’m new to this forum, so I don’t know if any of these questions have been previously asked. I am a Starbucks store manager in Montreal, Canada. Our location has many Jewish customers that eat/drink only Kosher, as do I. We even offer Chalav Israel milk for those who want. I check for hechshers on all drink ingredients, food items etc. The new Apple Crisp Oatmilk Macchiato contains apple brown sugar syrup as well as spiced apple drizzle. These do not have a kosher certification. Is this just in Canada? Are they Kosher in the US? I would love to try them and recommend them but I’m not sure where they stand with being Kosher.

Looking forward,
Michelle

2

Hi,

The apple brown sugar syrup and the spiced apple drizzle are kosher in the USA and Canada even if you don’t see a certification on the package.

3

Wow, that’s great to know, but how do you explain that it is?

4

Great question.

I’ll share with you a screenshot of an email we received from the OU kosher back in 2009 in reference to the Starbucks syrups.

There are many reasons a product can be kosher yet not have a certification on the label. Here is one reason:

Screenshot_20220905-103545~2
Screenshot_20220905-103545~21440×3120 359 KB

5

Wow, no way.

Good to know. Thanks so much!

6

@ralph.lasry Not sure how you can confidently advise as to the kashrus of an item when the information you have is 13 years old. Things change. Might want to consider updating your info…

7

Not sure what you’re talking about. I have the most up to date info directly from Starbucks.

8

The screenshot of the email is from 2009. Is that the last time you got the update about this (flavored syrups) from Starbucks? I’d love to know, thank you!

9

The email isn’t to show our latest communications but to show a message from the OU explaining why things can be kosher certified by the OU and yet the food does not have a OU printed on it.

We have the lastest up to date info directly from Starbucks.

10

Hi. I just emailed the OU and this was their response:

“We only stand behind those with an OU on its label.

There are a variety of reasons why a product may sometimes appear with an OU and sometimes without. Here are a few of those possibilities:

  1. Different sizes of the same product are made on different production lines or at facilities that are not certified.
  2. The product without the OU symbol is manufactured in a non-certified plant.
  3. The product without the OU is an old batch that was manufactured prior to OU supervision.”

So, per the OU, the syrup in question would NOT be kosher.

11

Incorrect. According to this they just don’t certify it. They did not and cannot says it not kosher. These are very different.

This list is also not exhaustive. There may be many more reasons why some products have or don’t have OU certification of which only one reason would be because it’s actually not kosher.