Starbucks launches new food items, changes recipes

Starbucks Corp. said Tuesday it has cut out artificial flavors and ingredients from its food to make its baked goods better-tasting and more "wholesome."

The gourmet coffee chain said it simplified many of its recipes and is now baking with ingredients like whole grains, Oregon blueberries and Michigan cherries. New food items include a blueberry oat bar filled with two types of organic blueberries, a new banana walnut bread made with more real bananas and a lower-calorie marshmallow dream bar.

Starbucks said it baked and tasted hundreds of recipes to cut out all artificial flavors, dyes, high-fructose corn syrup and artificial preservatives wherever possible.

The Seattle-based company is also introducing a new salad, called the Farmer's Market Salad with blue cheese, almonds, cranberries and apples, and a new flavor for its Vivanno smoothie line _ strawberry banana.

Starbucks shares fell 69 cents, or 4.7 percent, to $13.95 in morning trading.