Why the coffee machine name matters in milk tea shop inspections

Shanghai's Fengxian District Market Supervision Bureau ran surprise inspections at several well-known milk tea stores in Baolong Plaza, and all five brands checked failed. Yidian Dian, ChaBaiDao, 7FenTian, CoCo, and XiongJi were cited for incomplete employee health certificates, disorganized raw material records, and dirty operating areas.

The topic drew more than 500 million views, with many commenters saying they would stop buying. Inspectors examined health certificates, service standards, raw material records, and food storage. The case echoes earlier food safety incidents involving Burger King, 85°C, and IKEA, and it applies equally to any equipment in the shop, from the coffee machine name on the counter to routine sanitisation of coffee machine parts.

A trending topic about food safety in milk tea shops has sparked widespread concern: the Fengxian District Market Supervision Bureau in Shanghai conducted surprise inspections of several well-known milk tea stores in Baolong Plaza, and the results showed that all five brands—Yidian Dian, ChaBaiDao, 7FenTian, CoCo, and XiongJi—had problems, involving incomplete health certificates, chaotic raw material management, and dirty operating environments. The topic quickly surpassed 500 million views, with netizens exclaiming, "I don't dare drink it anymore." Meanwhile, the article also reviews food safety cases in recent years involving Burger King, 85°C, and IKEA, reminding the food and beverage industry that it must strictly adhere to operating standards.

Last night, a piece of news suddenly appeared on Weibo's trending list—it looks like the milk tea industry is in trouble again!

Sure enough, it's another worrying food safety issue.

But they all failed inspection?? That's a bit...

Soon after, the topic quickly sparked discussion among netizens, and it has now reached 520 million views with 25,000 comments.

This view count also shows that in recent years, the consumer base and sales of milk tea have continued to rise. Whether around schools, in shopping malls, or on commercial pedestrian streets, milk tea shops can be seen almost everywhere. From another perspective, competition in the new-style tea beverage market seems to be intensifying, but no matter how fierce the competition, food quality and safety must always be the bottom line.

It is reported that the Fengxian District Market Supervision Bureau in Shanghai recently conducted surprise inspections of some milk tea shops in Baolong Plaza. As shown in the list, all the inspected stores had issues of non-compliance.

Statistics show that the milk tea brands inspected in this surprise check included well-known brands such as Yidian Dian, ChaBaiDao, 7FenTian, CoCo, and XiongJi. Shanghai law enforcement officers focused on checking multiple aspects, including employees' health certificates, service standards, raw material records, and food storage. During the inspection, they found food safety hazards in many stores, such as incomplete employee health certificates and inadequate raw material management.

Specifically, the problems found in these milk tea shops are as follows:

At the Yidian Dian store,

one employee had not obtained a health certificate;

tea bags and other raw materials in storage boxes had no labels at all, and key information such as repackaging dates and shelf lives was missing;

used rags were placed next to packaged tea raw materials.

At the CoCo store,

raw materials in the freezer were all left open and not sealed;

some ingredients were also casually placed on the table without covers;

items in the corners of the back kitchen were placed in a messy manner.

At the ChaBaiDao store,

some semi-finished products in the store were not covered;

some food ingredients were not sealed;

employees' personally opened food was mixed with the store's ingredients;

staff health certificates were incomplete;

masks were not worn properly.

At the 7FenTian store,

employees' personal drinks were mixed with the store's ingredients;

bags containing raw materials in the warehouse were not sealed;

discarded fruit was thrown away at will and not stored according to regulations.

At the XiongJi store,

fruit and cleaning tools were stored together;

trash in the garbage bin overflowed and was not cleaned up in time;

the kitchen floor was wet and messy, and brewed tea leaves were not cleaned up in time and were left randomly on the floor;

in the warehouse, garbage, miscellaneous items, fruit, and other things were placed in a chaotic manner;

ingredients were not separated or sealed and were directly put into cabinets;

the preparation table and washing table were dirty and messy, and drinks were placed directly beside them.

Seeing this news, netizens sighed one after another: too scary, I don't dare drink milk tea anymore.

In response to the non-compliant problems found during the inspection, relevant personnel from the Shanghai Municipal Market Supervision Administration said that detailed records had been made of the existing problems and rectification notices had been issued, and the stores involved had been ordered to suspend business for rectification.

As a food and beverage industry, non-standard employee operations are crucial to the food safety of the entire store, and such food safety problems have not happened for the first time.

In July 2020, the CCTV 3·15 Gala exposed that the global large chain enterprise Burger King used expired ingredients and cut corners, harming consumer rights. After the incident escalated, Burger King China issued an apology statement and responded that the store involved was a Burger King franchise. Subsequently, market supervision departments in many parts of the country began investigating other Burger King China stores.

In August 2020, stores under three well-known catering brands—the dessert shop 85°C, Manji Dessert, and Guiyuanpu—were found to have illegal food safety practices. Among them, the dessert shop 85°C was fined 30,000 to 50,000 RMB for making "day-after-tomorrow" cakes, Manji Dessert for using expired ingredients, and Guiyuanpu for food safety problems involving excessive bacteria.

In December 2020, a consumer drinking coffee at IKEA Shanghai Yangpu Mall discovered that the coffee concentrate used in IKEA's coffee machine had been expired for more than a month. The consumer then filed complaints and reports through platforms such as "12331" and "12315." Afterward, IKEA Yangpu Mall sent reporters a media statement on the food safety incident, saying: "This incident was a case of operational error by a small number of people, but it is of great significance for IKEA's catering department to further improve the rigor of process execution."

How the catering industry conducts food safety management is a question every practitioner should think about. After all, food safety is especially important for consumers, as it directly affects consumers' health and safety. No matter what brand of catering business it is, it should strictly control food safety.

Finally, it is still necessary to remind everyone,

No matter what field a food enterprise is in or how famous it is, as part of the catering industry, it must strengthen training on employee food safety operating procedures to avoid similar incidents happening again. Most importantly, it must ensure food safety and a strict food safety management system.

*Image source: Internet

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.