Pinkberry: What’s In The Powder?

By La Verne Casagrande - Thursday May 10th 2007

Concerned citizens are up in arms about superstar yogurt stand Pinkberry. Led by local resident Bryan Williams, they’ve filed a lawsuit demanding the chain disclose its ingredients and/or stop calling itself frozen yogurt.

What’s actually in the powder? Citizens postulate! Submit your own guesses below.

Chalk
Chalk-like substance
Some sort of Chalky something-or-other
A Chalky countenance
Nicotine
Asteroid particles
Bisquick
Salt
Some kind of healthy shit
Cocaine
Fred Ward’s Doormat Detritus
Pet Dander
Blogger Dander
Failed Gary Coleman Get Cash Now! scripts
Ground-up 14th Annual Daytime Emmy Statues (1987)
The Remains Of The Day

What now?

56 Responses to “Pinkberry: What’s In The Powder?”

Craig Robin : 5/10/07 at 4:27 pm

um, pink berries?
Mando : 5/10/07 at 4:47 pm

fresh dingleberries.
Pete : 5/10/07 at 5:08 pm

The damaged portions of the original San Vicente/La Brea statue shack’s inventory.
EL CHAVO! : 5/10/07 at 5:53 pm

Pink baby nuts. 2 per gallon.
nrique : 5/10/07 at 10:32 pm

day old taco shell shavings (got to use the fresh stuff!)

my dignity

Hoffa and MANY more we can’t discuss

Solvent green, no wait that’s classified

Haliburton left overs

Dick Chenny’s missing friends (not Hoffa)

King TACO!
zilla : 5/10/07 at 10:57 pm

a packet of sea monkeys
Pete : 5/11/07 at 1:34 am

Steve Howe’s pick shavings from the Tales from Topographic Oceans tour, 1974-75

2004 Lakers NBA Champions apparel
m : 5/11/07 at 9:02 am

love

urchin spines

plaque

bald eagle

evaporated teardrops

unflavoured pop-rocks
badMike : 5/11/07 at 2:06 pm

A hallucinogenic compound that alters consumers’ consciousnesses to make them think what they’re eating actually tastes good.
santos. : 5/11/07 at 6:06 pm

buttermilk powder, milk retentate, caseinate, and whey protein concentrate. mmm. tasty.
MovieMan : 5/11/07 at 6:29 pm

It’s THE STUFF! As seen in the popular 1985 movie, “The Stuff!”
Sue : 5/12/07 at 7:08 am

MSG + sawdust
mick : 5/12/07 at 3:35 pm

gay people
Charlie Heston : 5/12/07 at 4:20 pm

Soylent Pink
Ashley : 5/14/07 at 10:53 am

Soylent green (for the green tea version)
Andy : 5/14/07 at 1:40 pm

Hello people, clearly it’s eczema.
LB : 5/14/07 at 4:47 pm

Blow.
Pete : 5/14/07 at 6:19 pm

Dried, pulverized racehorse semen.
Ella : 5/14/07 at 11:35 pm

The residue from the floor of the bathroom at the house of blues in anaheim

Our collective dreams

vinegar
pam : 5/16/07 at 10:44 am

laverne, you spelt nicotine wrong. but given the fact that you’re still smarter than me, i’ll let it slide.
Dana : 5/16/07 at 1:28 pm

Spelt
Spelt (Triticum aestivum var. spelta) is a sub-species of common wheat. It has been grown in Europe for about 300 years.
claudia milan : 5/16/07 at 5:29 pm

seriously people i thought it was illegal to not list ingredients on items that are eaten…

someone tell us what is in that stupid shit and if it comes from china or asia i really dont’ trust it… consideriing the scare with pet food and pig feed…
e*star LA » Blog Archive » Pinkberry Is Not Yogurt : 5/17/07 at 10:28 pm

[...] Eater Los Anjealous [...]
Lyn : 5/22/07 at 9:14 am

Human Breast milk via the pinkberry pumpers
Bruno : 6/21/07 at 9:19 am

IT’S PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!
sylvia richardson : 6/24/07 at 1:43 pm

Melamine? Hey, if it’s good enough for Fido…
marilyn : 6/29/07 at 9:45 am

What’s all the fuss? It just tastes like organic yogurt to me. To make yogurt you need a yogurt starter which is usually yogurt (just like you need a yeast starter from bread dough with yeast that’s already been activated) also a lot of yogurt recipes require powdered milk.

People don’t know what half the crap is in the boxes of cookies and dinners they buy from the grocery store. Half of them aren’t even honest. Sure MSG has been banned but you’d be surprised to know that it’s still in the food it just goes by another name because consumers don’t know that. And everyone is up in arms about a yogurt place? Puh-leeez…our society is pathetic.
caroline : 6/29/07 at 9:54 am

Hmm…good point.

Homemade Basic Yogurt (Yoghurt)
Ingredients
1 quart whole milk
1/3 cup instant nonfat dry mlk (optional. It produces a thicker texure and increases the protein content by 2 grams per cup.)
1 rounded tablespoon plain yogurt or recommended quantity of powdered culture

Instructions
Combine and incubate per machine instructions.
Craptastic Cell Phone Photo of the Week: Yet Another Yogurt Shop : 6/29/07 at 11:24 am

[...] of Yogurberry (seriously â€” yogurberry!?) makes us wonder whom to feel more sorry for: the local resident subjected to three yogurt stands within a few blocks’ radius, or the downtrodden, shades-sporting Caltrans court referral [...]
Just the Facts : 7/15/07 at 5:07 pm

Pinkberry or PinkScary

Itâ€™s Candy in a cupâ€¦

One 13-ounce large size has 65 grams of sugar. Thatâ€™s 16 teaspoons of sugar and 300 calories in just the yogurt.

One 8-ounce medium size has 40 grams of sugar, which equals 10 teaspoons of sugar for 200 calories.

The sugary toppings like white chocolate add even more sugar and fat.

Pinkberry has refused to release the ingredients in their yogurt. Why, if itâ€™s just yogurt?

I’d rather have a Ben and Jerrys for all sugar.

Just the Facts
Just the Facts : 7/15/07 at 9:27 pm

Pinkberry or PinkScary

Itâ€™s Candy in a cupâ€¦

According to the nutritional information on the Pinkberry website.

One 13-ounce large size has 65 grams of sugar. Thatâ€™s 16 teaspoons of sugar and 300 calories in just the yogurt.

One 8-ounce medium size has 40 grams of sugar, which equals 10 teaspoons of sugar for 200 calories.

The sugary toppings like white chocolate add even more sugar and fat.

Pinkberry has refused to release the ingredients in their yogurt. Why, if itâ€™s just yogurt?

They advertise their desert as a healthy snack but hide the truth. Itâ€™s loaded with sugar and hidden ingredients.
Canadian Coffee Break: Pinkberry Crosses CaÃ±adian Border : 7/19/07 at 7:45 am

[...] for Pinkberry, I won’t deny the stuff is good, but as Losanjealous noted some time ago, it’s not real right? I heard it doesn’t even have any yogurt culture right? Although [...]
jealous much? : 7/19/07 at 9:27 am

It’s ridiculous how ppl are begrudging Pinkberry’s success and try to force it to reveal its ingredients.
You can stop PB from calling its products healthy frozen yoghurt if the bacteria count is too low. But how can you force the business to teach you how to reproduce their yogurt?
I don’t think ppl will care whether they’re eating frozen yogurt or fat free ice-cream as long as it tastes good and the calorie count is low. Unless you can prove that the nutritional information is fake, PB won’t loose customers.
They Are Jealous : 7/23/07 at 1:23 pm

Pinky Berry is REALLY Good. First it’s Yogurt and then they put FRESH berries on it. You pick them. But it’s just people that want to start their own store and don’t know how to do it. Why the fuck should he give you the information on his ingredients. They just don’t want to do the work and try to make there own or try to make yogurt and don’t add alot of sugar or use other stuff to change the taste for the better.

Stupid People.
Jenn : 7/23/07 at 2:02 pm

Forget the ingredients. Anyone else but me getting tired of the font similarities? You know, rounded serif with a swirl of a fruit or plant next to or within the logo? I have yet to see a frozen yogurt biz use serif. It’s a bit disappointing.
Jenn : 7/23/07 at 2:03 pm

rounded “sans serif” i mean.
Just the Facts : 7/25/07 at 2:50 pm

Revealing the ingredients is not revealing the recipe. Itâ€™s done all the time. Pinkberry is hiding something. They promoted it as healthy when in fact it has 1/3 more sugar then Coke. Fool me once but never twice!
eekatpants : 8/3/07 at 12:34 pm

Considering all the other fake things that come out of LA, I’m gonna go ahead and guess that the secret ingredient is milk from fake tits (if that’s even possible).
One good thing about LA: pinkberry « Thoughts and ramblings : 9/5/07 at 5:36 pm

[...] there’s been some speculation about the fact that pinkberry is yogurt + a mystery white powder… or perhaps there is NO yogurt in there at all. Do I really care what its made of? How bad [...]
Nikki : 10/20/07 at 4:05 pm

Is it true that Pinkberry yogurt will bleach carpet? I heard that recently.
rita : 11/9/07 at 1:06 pm

I WORK AT PINKBERRY.
Stop bashing us.

FIRST:
there is NO powder. none. it’s liquid. it’s LITERALLY liquid yoghurt. REAL yoghurt with REAL, live yoghurt cultures. Same goes for the green tea except that the green tea extract is added.
All of the ingredients are posted for the public to see inside each and every pinkberry location. so why are you all trying to guess what kinds of ridiculous things are in there when you can go see for yourself!? jeeze.
the only thing that is artificial in the yoghurt is a touch of green food color for the green tea yoghurt so you can see the visual difference. ANY MORE QUESTIONS….? JUST ASK. DONT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS.
ben : 11/9/07 at 2:27 pm

wait, if there’s no powder then how do they get the unicorn horns in there?
rita : 11/9/07 at 6:54 pm

oh-so-funny you are
me : 11/17/07 at 11:44 pm

you stupid ignorant people worst things you guys eat out their hating your self for not coming up with the idea
pookieberry : 11/29/07 at 10:46 pm

Listen up, y’all! Pinkberry is good with no more rat droppings than are legally allow BY THE GOVERNMENT! You’re just jealous your restaurant doesn’t have rat droppings! So what if they don’t even know what’s in it. It’s a mysterious secret from Korea, yo! And my carpet only got a little bleached out by the yogurt, I’m sure it doesn’t cause cancer.
00stephen : 12/25/07 at 11:29 am

Hi Rita, I have some question:

Is it true that (according to CA state law) a product must contain a certain amount of active yogurt cultures to be labeled and advertised as yogurt? And is it true that Pinkberry falls exceedingly short of containing the minimum amount necessary? And is that why all references of “yogurt” have been removed from Pinkberry advertising, signage, and promotional literature? And, out of curiousity, is that why you’ve elected to spell yogurt as “yogHurt”, which comes across as a little evasive, deceptive, and — dare I say — sinister?

Contrary to suggestions above, the low esteem reserved for Pinkberry isn’t based upon any jealousy of a economically successful (albeit morally deceptive) business model, but rather upon the notion that a less-than-healthy product has been advertised as a healthy snack. Such practice preys upon people who desire to live better, healthier lives, while glossing over the fact their return business is rooted in the copious amounts of sugar in their product and the glycemic cravings it induces.

We don’t have to hate, but let’s call a spade a spade. ‘k?
Hamish : 12/25/07 at 1:23 pm

On the spelling of yoghurt:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yogurt#Etymology_and_spelling
gag : 12/27/07 at 11:49 pm

babies
carole anderson : 1/8/08 at 12:52 pm

Do you have a list of the calorie amounts per servong?
D : 1/28/08 at 1:28 pm

I use to work at Pinkberry and I can tell you the secret ingredient in fact IS a powder and is shipped from korea. It comes in unmarked boxes and from someone I’ve spoken with, he believes it is melamine
Michael : 4/9/08 at 7:30 am

hey rita,
can you shoot me an email? have a short question to ask about pberry$
Michael : 4/9/08 at 7:30 am

hey rita,
can you shoot me an email? have a short question to ask about pberry$
mikeyang84@gmail.com
Jennifer : 5/1/08 at 8:31 pm

My husband used to own a bagel store. He had little brown bags he called “the secret ingredient” he made the employees add to the dough. Guess what, it was plain flour! PinkBerry Powder is probably just some plain old powdered sugar.
Helloooo... Who Cares?! : 9/6/08 at 5:00 am

Who really cares whether or not there is a secret powder or ingredient in the yogurt. Isn’t that how ALL food companies differ from one another by own secret ingredients??? Do you expect the greatest master chefs in the world to stop what they’re doing and break down the ingredients in their creations to understand why it’s so great??? No, why would they to justify it?!?! If it’s not hurting people and no one’s dying from it who really gives a crap what’s in it as long as it’s not harmful and it tastes good!!!!!!! Why don’t all you guys who want to bash the product just stop and use that time and do something more productive in your life.

BTW… I personally had tried Pinkberry once in NYC about a month or so ago on 32nd St. and I have to say that it was pretty damn good. I can’t wait to have another chance to try it again!
amanda : 2/3/09 at 11:02 pm

Hi rita – Please email me (or anyone else that works for Pinkberry) please as I have some questions – I will even pay you for your time…seriously – thank you.

amianda_adams@hotmail.com
MOMO : 2/12/09 at 8:58 am

Um…… every delicious thing you can
think of makes up pinkberry.

how can it have chalk?

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Pinkberry: What’s In The Powder?

What now?

56 Responses to “Pinkberry: What’s In The Powder?”

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