What happened with the Harbin coffee that added oral liquid?

A coffee shop in the Harbin Pharmaceutical Group No. 6 Factory scenic area sold two drinks, the Blue Bottle Latte and the Zinc Wish Latte, made with calcium gluconate and zinc gluconate oral liquid. Both are Class A non-prescription drugs, and adding them directly to food is suspected of violating the Food Safety Law. A consumer reported the matter to 12315, and the local market supervision bureau filed a case on May 14.

After the report, the shop adjusted its method, pouring out the oral liquid and using only the empty bottles as decoration, though residue concerns remained. The consumer later signed documents in August confirming 2,000 yuan in compensation and reward, which was donated to the Hebei Provincial Red Cross. The case drew debate online over whether food safety rules were breached by this calcium coffee.

In May of this year, a tourist discovered two specialty drinks at a coffee shop in the Harbin Pharmaceutical Group No. 6 Factory scenic area — the Blue Bottle Latte and the Zinc Wish Latte, which had calcium gluconate and zinc gluconate oral liquid added to them, respectively. Since these two oral liquids are Class A non-prescription drugs, adding them directly to food is suspected of violating the Food Safety Law. After a consumer reported the matter to 12315, the local market supervision bureau filed a case on May 14. Afterward, the consumer received multiple phone calls from the market supervision bureau and eventually signed documents in August confirming receipt of compensation and a reward totaling 2,000 yuan, which was donated to the Hebei Provincial Red Cross. The incident sparked heated discussion among netizens, with some questioning whether the consumer was making a mountain out of a molehill, while others insisted that food safety is no small matter.

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In May of this year, when a netizen visited the Harbin Pharmaceutical scenic area, known as the "Northeast Louvre" and a popular internet-famous check-in spot, they noticed that a coffee shop inside the scenic area had launched two specialty drinks with a Harbin Pharmaceutical Group No. 6 Factory style: one was the Blue Bottle Latte with added calcium gluconate, and the other was the Zinc Wish Latte with added zinc gluconate.

Given that both oral liquids produced by Harbin Pharmaceutical Group No. 6 Factory bear the red OTC mark and belong to Class A non-prescription drugs, and that under the requirements of the Food Safety Law, drugs must not be directly added to food, some consumers pointed out at the time that the on-site staff's practice of opening the small blue bottles of supplements and pouring them directly into coffee might already be suspected of violating regulations.

Faced with outside questions, the coffee shop temporarily adjusted its preparation process, changing it to pouring out the oral liquid from the small blue bottles and merely inserting the empty bottles upside down on the surface of the drinks as decoration. However, some still pointed out that this approach, on the one hand, wasted the supplements and, on the other hand, could not ensure that no oral liquid residue remained in the small blue bottles, and insisted that the coffee shop should stop selling these two products.

At the same time, a consumer who had purchased the drink, after discovering the coffee shop's irregular practice, reported the situation to the national 12315 platform. After receiving the report, the local market supervision administration decided to file a case for investigation on May 14.

According to feedback from the customer, on June 24 he received a call from a staff member of the market supervision bureau, who said during the call that the merchant believed the minimum compensation of 1,000 yuan to consumers for producing and selling toxic and harmful food was too high and hoped to coordinate a reduction, but the customer refused.

The mediator then said that if the merchant were fined for its irregular practice, it would not be possible to compensate the consumer. However, in the view of netizens, the relevant unit fining the merchant for its irregular practice and the merchant providing financial compensation to the consumer do not conflict, and the two sides could not reach agreement on the mediation result.

On July 24, the customer received another call from a staff member of the local market supervision bureau, who said that the investigation and enforcement of the case had encountered unknown resistance and hoped the consumer could stop pursuing the outcome of the case.

On August 12, the customer received a third call, and the next day went to the market supervision bureau to sign documents as required by the staff, including delivery of the case filing decision, delivery of the mediation notice, confirmation of receipt of compensation and the reward for providing clues about food safety hazards, as well as a written document stating that the merchant's legal liability would no longer be pursued. He said that during this process he did not see any relevant person in charge from Harbin Pharmaceutical Group No. 6 Factory. Afterward, the customer donated the 2,000 yuan in cash received as compensation and reward to the Hebei Provincial Red Cross.

Regarding this incident, some netizens believed that the customer's pursuit of the coffee shop was somewhat overly critical. They said this was merely a creative drink combining Harbin Pharmaceutical Group No. 6 Factory's signature oral liquid with coffee, and other consumers who bought and drank the drink did not experience symptoms such as physical discomfort, so this product with brand characteristics should not be discontinued.

But many others believed that "food safety is no small matter," and that the two oral liquids from Harbin Pharmaceutical Group No. 6 Factory are strictly speaking both drugs, so the coffee shop's act of combining them with drinks did not comply with relevant laws and regulations. Therefore, the consumer's report, to a certain extent, prevented more people from accidentally consuming food with potential safety hazards.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

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