How Does Schedule+ Coffee Fit Into the Nayuki Colony Count Penalty Story?
The Nayuki Tea store on Dongchangzhi Road in Shanghai's Hongkou District was fined 5,000 yuan and had 25 yuan of illegal gains confiscated after a sampled cup of Golden Mountain Treasure Tea failed a colony count test. Inspectors took the cup aseptically on July 23, 2021, and the lab report issued August 3 judged it non-compliant with the local ready-made beverage standard.
The penalty followed earlier scrutiny of the brand's store hygiene, including a Xinhua News Agency report published on August 2, 2021, and attention from the State Administration for Market Regulation. For the new-style tea sector, the case raises a question that apologies and compensation do not settle: whether daily preparation, storage and cleaning routines inside stores actually keep pace with the schedule+coffee pace and volume of fresh drinks sold.
The new-style tea beverage industry has once again been hit by a food safety scandal. The Nayuki Tea Shanghai Dongchangzhi Road store was fined and had its illegal gains confiscated by the Hongkou District Market Supervision Administration after the colony count of its freshly made and sold Golden Mountain Treasure Tea exceeded the standard. Prior to this, the brand had already been exposed by the media multiple times for chaotic store hygiene conditions, even drawing the attention of the State Administration for Market Regulation. From Xinhua reporters going undercover to tea beverage brands frequently trending on social media, consumers pay high prices but do not necessarily receive safety guarantees that match. This article will sort out the ins and outs of this penalty, review the food safety crisis Nayuki Tea encountered this year, and ask: after tea beverage brands apologize, compensate, and rectify, have the fundamental problems actually been solved?
According to an October 21 report by China.com Finance, the Nayuki Tea Shanghai Dongchangzhi Road store was found to have sold Golden Mountain Treasure Tea whose colony count failed in sampling inspection, violating relevant provisions of the Food Safety Law of the People's Republic of China, and was determined to be operating food that does not meet food safety standards.
The penalty information shows that the Shanghai Hongkou District Market Supervision Administration imposed a fine of 5,000 yuan on the store and confiscated its illegal gains of 25 yuan.
The specific sequence was as follows: on July 23, 2021, the Hongkou District Market Supervision Administration entrusted Shanghai Liquor and Food Quality Inspection Center Co., Ltd. to take one cup of the freshly made and sold Golden Mountain Treasure Tea from the Nayuki Tea Dongchangzhi Road store by aseptic sampling, with a purchase price of RMB 25. On August 3, the inspection agency issued a report (No. 21C071267), concluding that the sample's colony count did not comply with the provisions of DB31/2007-2012 Food Safety Local Standard Ready-Made Beverages, and it was judged unqualified.
In fact, before news of this penalty for an unqualified colony count came out, Nayuki Tea had repeatedly stumbled on food safety.
On August 2 this year, Xinhua News Agency published a report pointing out that some Nayuki Tea stores had problems such as cockroaches crawling everywhere, rotting fruit, unwashed rags, and inaccurate label information. When faced with issues such as mislabeled items, the stores only handled them privately, neither publicly explaining to consumers nor taking any remedial measures.
Often it was only after media exposure that the stores involved were suspended for rectification. Related incidents even caused Nayuki Tea's Hong Kong stock price to fall sharply and trended on Weibo.
About twenty days after the Xinhua reporter's undercover investigation, Nayuki Tea suffered another heavy blow in August. On August 23, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued a public criticism and imposed a fine.
Tea beverage stores seem to trend on Weibo almost every month because of food safety problems: the Liuzhou Yihetang milk tea shop was covered with cockroaches, a spider was found in Tea Baidao, Heytea was accused of "stomach-washing milk tea," and Yidian Dian used expired milk foam. The above incidents occurred only during the three months from August to October. After every incident, the brand's response was nothing more than compensation, rectification, and apology. Yet before the old problems were eradicated, new troubles arrived again.
In the food safety self-inspection reports posted on Nayuki Tea's official account, the latest currently available only goes up to July. The article says "let everyone drink tea with peace of mind and eat bread safely," and also claims "scheduled daily inspections and irregular spot checks, with strict self-inspection and self-check as well as monitored store patrols every week." But the food safety self-inspection articles for August and September are nowhere to be found.
Consumers originally thought that paying a higher price would bring better flavor and more reliable food safety, only to find that this was nothing but wishful thinking. After being exposed, a word of apology, a sum of compensation, or a fine seems enough to settle the matter, and then they continue to repeat "so delicious." It seems the cost of making mistakes is still too low. After all, there are no small number of consumers willing to repeatedly accept apologies.
The pit this tea beverage industry digs is getting bigger and bigger. The money has been made, but the most basic things have been lost. You in front of the screen, do you still plan to keep jumping into the pit?
Image: Nayuki Tea official account, internet
For more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account cafe_style) For professional coffee knowledge exchange, please add WeChat ID kaixinguoguo0925
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
