What Is the Ingredients in Coffee Question Next to Tea Safety?

ChaPanda, also written Tea Baidao, drew public criticism after two food safety incidents surfaced in October. On the evening of October 9 the brand posted two Weibo statements, one on the use of expired raw materials and one on a Ningbo customer who reported finding a spider in a separately packaged milk cap. The 600 yuan compensation offer did not quiet netizens.

A week earlier the brand had apologized after a blogger's undercover investigation found expired materials with changed labels. Surprise inspections by local market supervision authorities have repeatedly found incomplete health certificates and expired raw materials this year. Consumers now ask sharper questions about what goes into a drink, much as the question of what is the ingredients in coffee drives scrutiny of the coffee bean process.

Recently, ChaPanda has once again become the focus of public opinion due to food safety issues. On the evening of October 9, the brand's official Weibo posted two statements in succession, responding to two incidents: "use of expired raw materials" and "a Ningbo customer complained of finding a spider in a drink." Regarding the spider incident, ChaPanda said the source of the spider in the video was unclear and difficult to claim, and explained that the 600 yuan compensation was a reaction by store employees to smooth things over, but this response did not quell netizens' doubts. A week earlier, ChaPanda had just apologized after a blogger's undercover investigation exposed the use of expired materials with changed labels. In fact, since the beginning of this year, ChaPanda has repeatedly been found in surprise inspections by local market supervision authorities to have issues such as incomplete health certificates and expired raw materials. Although the brand emphasized that it had investigated and rectified stores nationwide, the frequent food safety hazards still worry consumers.

On the evening of October 9, ChaPanda posted two messages on its official Weibo:

The first was in response to "ChaPanda using expired raw materials," and the second was a response to "a Ningbo customer complaining about finding a spider in a drink."

Let's start with the second one. ChaPanda responded to "a Ningbo customer complaining about finding a spider in a drink": the spider of unknown origin in the video was clearly not produced and delivered by ChaPanda, and ChaPanda finds it difficult to claim.

Let's first review how the whole matter unfolded👇

On October 6, a female customer in Ningbo, Zhejiang, said that when ordering a takeaway drink from a ChaPanda store in Cixi, she found a spider in the separately packaged milk cap. The customer then took photos and reported it to the relevant authorities. After that, an employee at the ChaPanda store involved responded, saying that no spider was found during the drink-making process and that the customer only reported it to the merchant several hours after receiving the drink. However, the staff member also said that they were currently negotiating 600 yuan in compensation with the customer.

After ChaPanda's response, some netizens were not convinced.

ChaPanda issued a statement in response, pointing out: "Regarding the issue mentioned in relevant reports that store staff discussed 600 yuan in compensation with the customer, this was a reaction made by store staff who were at a loss when facing the customer's compensation demand and, without understanding the truth, acted to smooth things over."

Among them, in the comment section of this statement, the most-liked comment was this one👇

Obviously, some netizens were not convinced.

And since the beginning of this month, ChaPanda stores have already been exposed for food safety issues for the second time.

Let's continue with the first response ChaPanda posted on its official Weibo on the evening of October 9:

On September 30, ChaPanda was exposed for using expired raw materials.

A blogger made undercover visits to 4 ChaPanda stores in different cities and pointed out that ChaPanda had changed labels on expired materials for continued use. A store employee also said it was to prevent inspection by regulatory authorities. After the matter intensified, the next day, ChaPanda issued an apology letter: it would conduct a comprehensive investigation of all stores and strictly rectify the problems.

In just one week, first it was exposed for expired raw materials, and then it was exposed for a spider in the milk tea. At present, looking at ChaPanda's official Weibo, all the updates this month are responses to "food safety issues."

In June this year, in the "National Meituan Takeaway Sales" ranking, ChaPanda ranked third with total sales of 10.563 million orders that month, second only to Wallace and Mixue Bingcheng. But in previous months this year, ChaPanda was also reported with quite a lot of negative news.

In February this year, law enforcement officers from the Shanghai Fengxian District Market Supervision Bureau conducted a surprise inspection of some milk tea shops in Fengxian Baolong Plaza.

ChaPanda was pointed out to have problems such as some semi-finished products not covered with lids, some food ingredients not sealed, employees personally mixing opened food with store ingredients, staff health certificates being incomplete, and masks not being worn properly.

In March this year, the Market Supervision Bureau of Chenzhou City, Hunan Province, conducted a surprise inspection of some milk tea shops in the urban area.

ChaPanda was pointed out to have problems such as two on-site employees at ChaPanda not having health certificates, a wet kitchen floor, and exposed garbage in trash bins.

In May this year, ChaPanda (Changsha Century Jinyuan Store) underwent a surprise inspection by the Market Supervision Bureau.

ChaPanda was pointed out to have a phenomenon of suspected expired raw materials. When inspecting the materials in the freezer, law enforcement officers also found that the labels of raw materials named "cake" and "raw condensed milk" had expired.

Finally, although ChaPanda said in its latest Weibo post that ChaPanda attaches great importance to the deficiencies that exist, immediately carried out investigation and rectification of stores nationwide, and further strengthened inspection and management of stores, we still hope relevant departments will increase regulatory efforts. After all, for the vast number of consumers, food safety is really important.

*Image source: Internet

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