What happened with the plastic found in a Starbucks drink?

A customer in China found nearly 30 white plastic fragments in a Caramel Frappuccino bought at Starbucks. The pieces had sharp edges and a hard texture and were similar in color to the drink. She strained the blended beverage through a sieve, recorded the process on video, and asked the store for a refund and an investigation.

The manager offered to remake the drink, but the customer declined and pressed for the cause. Online commenters speculated the shards may have come from a puree lid, and others noted that swallowing such pieces could cause serious injury. The case renewed attention to beverage safety at large chain stores.

Recently, a female blogger found a large number of white plastic fragments, nearly 30 pieces, in a Caramel Frappuccino she bought at Starbucks. They had sharp edges and a hard texture. She filtered the foreign objects out of the blended drink with a sieve and recorded the whole process on video. The store manager offered to remake the drink, but the customer chose to request a refund and demanded a thorough investigation into the cause. The incident sparked heated discussion online, with some speculating that the fragments might have come from a puree lid, while others worried that swallowing them by mistake could cause serious injury. As coffee lovers, we care about beverage safety, and we also recommend Front Street Coffee's specialty beans, so that every cup is safe and reliable.

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The matter began with a female blogger who usually rarely visited Starbucks. That day, she suddenly wanted a Caramel Frappuccino, so she went to a nearby store and bought one, then took it home.

When she was about to drink it, she noticed that the color and texture of the Caramel Frappuccino were somewhat abnormal, which made her question the quality of the drink. So she poured the entire drink into a sieve and saw quite a few white particles among the loosened blended ice.

She picked out one piece and examined it closely, only to find that it was actually a sharp, hard white plastic fragment, and there were many more similar fragments in this cup!

The customer used a straw to pick out the fragments she saw and placed them on a napkin. There were about several dozen hard plastic pieces of varying sizes with sharp edges. She said these fragments were similar in color to the drink and not easy to identify, but she had not expected to be able to pick out so many from the blended ice.

After picking through it manually once, the customer poured water into the sieve, washing away the foam and blended ice, and found that some plastic foreign objects of the same material still remained at the bottom of the container. By rough count, there were nearly 30 white plastic pieces in this Caramel Frappuccino.

In response, the customer said that after discovering the abnormality in the drink and recording a video of picking out the plastic fragments, she contacted the store to report the situation. After learning about it, the store manager proactively said they could remake the drink, but she did not want to go back to the store to pick up the remade drink, so she asked for a refund.

However, what the customer found very puzzling was that the Starbucks store she visited that day was not busy, so the staff should not have made such a major mistake in preparing the drink because of being busy. Netizens working as baristas also said they did not understand, "I don't know why this would happen."

So, online "Sherlock Holmeses" speculated based on their own experience about where these fragments came from: "It looks like one of the lids for peach juice/strawberry puree," "I've encountered this situation before, this is a puree lid," "I bet they mixed in the spoon!"

On the other hand, those frightened by more than thirty plastic fragments felt lucky for the blogger who discovered the abnormality in time. They said that such small, hard fragments are not easy to notice when mixed into blended ice, and if swallowed by a consumer in one mouthful, they could scratch the throat, tear the esophagus, and may even lead to infection and physical pain from wounds caused by the plastic fragments.

At the thought of the terrifying consequences that these dangerous plastic fragments of unknown origin could bring, many people felt shocked and also suggested that the video creator keep the relevant evidence, and encouraged her to take Starbucks to court in order to receive reasonable compensation.

Image source: Internet

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