Why did Nayuki face a fine over an expired grape cake?

Shanghai's Jing'an District Market Supervision Bureau fined a Nayuki store at Meilong Town Plaza 50,000 yuan for selling an expired grape-flavored cake. A customer ordered the cake through the WeChat mini-program on September 4, but its shelf-life label showed it was valid only until September 3, meaning it had already expired when received.

The case adds to a run of food safety problems for Nayuki since its Hong Kong Stock Exchange listing in June, including reports of cockroach infestations, spoiled fruit, and excessive bacteria levels. The stock has fallen from its HK$19.80 issue price to around HK$9, putting pressure on the brand's reputation.

Nayuki Tea has once again been thrust into the spotlight due to food safety issues. The Shanghai Jing'an District Market Supervision Bureau recently imposed a penalty on Nayuki's Shanghai Meilong Town Plaza store for selling an expired grape-flavored cake to consumers, with a fine of 50,000 yuan. This is not an isolated case—since its listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in June this year, Nayuki's stores have been repeatedly exposed for food safety scandals such as cockroach infestations, spoiled fruit, and excessive bacteria levels. The stock price has since fallen from the issue price of HK$19.80 to around HK$9, with a significant drop in market value. From being the "first stock of new-style tea drinks" to being plagued by negative news, Nayuki's brand reputation is facing a severe test.

Just as the memory of the previous report on Nayuki Tea's food safety issues had yet to fade, a new one has arrived.

According to Southern Metropolis Daily on November 4, Nayuki Tea has again received a fine for selling expired cakes. According to the official website of the Shanghai Municipal Market Supervision Administration, Shanghai Nayuki Catering Management Co., Ltd. Nanjing West Road Branch was fined 50,000 yuan by the Shanghai Jing'an District Market Supervision Administration for producing and operating food with false production dates, shelf life, or beyond shelf life, and food additives.

The penalty decision disclosed the sequence of events: a customer placed an order at 20:22 on September 4 through the WeChat mini-program at Nayuki Tea's Shanghai Meilong Town Plaza store for a grape-flavored cake. The cake's shelf life label showed it was valid until 23:59 on September 3, 2021, but the actual purchase date was September 4—in other words, by the time the consumer received it, the cake had long passed its labeled shelf life.

The investigation further reconstructed the circulation process of this cake. The pre-packaged cake was delivered in frozen form by Shenzhen Pindao Catering Management Co., Ltd., the parent company of the Nayuki brand, to the store in question on August 27, 2021. In the frozen state, the cake's labeled production date was July 14, 2021, with a shelf life until October 12, 2021.

At 7:11 on September 2, 2021, the staff began thawing the cake in question. The thawing process took 12 hours, completing at 19:11 that day, which is the time listed on the label as the market release time. After thawing, the cake's shelf life was set to before 24:00 the next day, which is the period shown on the label.

In response to the sale of food beyond its shelf life at Nayuki Tea's Shanghai Meilong Town Plaza store, the Shanghai Jing'an District Market Supervision Administration, in accordance with Article 124, Paragraph 1, Item (5) of the Food Safety Law of the People's Republic of China, imposed an administrative penalty of confiscating illegal gains of 9.26 yuan and a fine of 50,000 yuan.

In fact, before this penalty, Nayuki Tea had repeatedly been in trouble. Since its listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange at the end of June and earning the title of "first stock of new-style tea drinks," the brand has been under the media spotlight, with food safety issues at its stores frequently reported.

On August 2, Xinhua News Agency reporters conducted undercover visits to Nayuki's Beijing Xidan Joy City store and Chang'an Mall store, discovering and reporting a series of problems such as cockroaches crawling around, rotting and spoiled fruit, long-unwashed rags, and false label information. On August 23, two Nayuki stores were criticized and fined by the State Administration for Market Regulation for violations during production.

In October, Nayuki Tea's Shanghai East Changzhi Road store was fined 5,000 yuan by the Shanghai Hongkou District Market Supervision Administration for failing to meet standards in the total bacterial count of its Golden Mountain Treasure Tea during a spot check, and 25 yuan of illegal gains were confiscated.

Since its listing, Nayuki Tea has been plagued by negative news, and its Hong Kong stock price has fallen from the IPO issue price of HK$19.80 per share to just HK$9 per share as of the close on November 3, with its market value halved.

The brand that once aspired to inherit Chinese tea culture is now hard-pressed to convey positive energy. Food safety incidents keep piling up, and the fines compared to the brand's revenue are like a speck of dust compared to the Earth. On Weibo, some netizens bluntly stated that the cost of breaking the law is too low, and some have even shown clear resistance.

The snowflakes of food safety roll bigger and bigger, eventually forming a snowball. When the avalanche comes, no snowflake is innocent.

Not long ago, Nayuki Tea founder Peng Xin said in an interview on "One Question" that tea has more opportunities than coffee because tea and coffee are the world's two major beverages—tea is a daily staple for Chinese people, while coffee is for Westerners. She also mentioned that Nayuki hopes to become an innovator and promoter of Chinese tea going global.

As China's coffee market continues to grow, both tea and coffee have become part of our daily lives. If negative news persists, the brand will eventually be abandoned by consumers and replaced by others, let alone become a promoter.

Image source: Internet

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