How Does Coffee Beverage Development Face Food Safety Probes?

On March 14, Jingshi Live reported two food safety cases involving tea beverage brands. A Mixue Bingcheng store in Yichang, Wuhan, stored leftover lemon and orange slices at room temperature and reused them the next day. A Shanghai Auntie store in Hankou City Plaza relabeled toppings so expired ingredients stayed in use.

Market supervision authorities in both cities filed investigations. The Mixue store was sealed and shut down, and the Shanghai Auntie store was closed immediately. Mixue Bingcheng has claimed its lemonade and hand-smashed orange drinks use fruit cut on site, so the footage raises questions for coffee and beverage development teams tracking supply and storage rules.

On the evening of March 14, "Jingshi Live" exposed two consecutive food safety incidents involving tea beverage brands. The Mixue Bingcheng store at Ningju Xintiandi in Yichang, Wuhan, was accused of storing unused lemon and orange slices from the day at room temperature under the counter, and continuing to use them the next day to make signature drinks; the Shanghai Auntie store at Hankou City Plaza was exposed for altering the shelf-life labels of toppings, allowing expired ingredients to be "revived" for use. The market supervision authorities in both locations have separately filed investigations into the stores involved. Among them, the Mixue Bingcheng store involved was sealed and shut down, and the Shanghai Auntie store involved was immediately closed. As a content platform that also follows developments in the coffee and beverage industry, Front Street Coffee continues to track such food safety issues. The following are the details of the incidents.

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On the evening of March 14, an investigative report aired by "Jingshi Live" pointed out that the Mixue Bingcheng store located at Ningju Xintiandi in Yichang, Wuhan, engaged in violations: it did not handle leftover fresh fruit slices according to regulations, but instead used overnight lemon slices and orange slices to make signature products.

From the video footage, it can be seen that an employee of the store put the unused lemon slices and orange slices from the day into takeaway cups, then hid them in a storage cabinet under the counter, intending to keep them for continued use the next day. The employee also said that this practice "is normal operation."

Another employee at the same store behaved similarly. He placed takeaway cups containing the day's leftover fresh fruit slices into a stainless steel bucket and left the bucket at room temperature in a corner of the store's back area. When the reporter suggested that "even if they are to be used tomorrow, they should be put in the refrigerator," the employee did not respond directly and only said, "I won't dare drink it in the future. I'm a little scared."

Mixue Bingcheng has always officially claimed that its two signature drinks, Fresh Lemonade and Hand-Smashed Fresh Orange, are made with fresh fruit cut and prepared on the spot. However, at this store, employees placed overnight fruit slices kept at room temperature in a blind spot of the surveillance cameras in the operation area and used them to make drinks for sale. The employee admitted that the reason for doing so was precisely fear of being discovered by the company.

Not only that, during the investigation the reporter also found that flies and insects frequently crawled on takeaway cup lids, drink-making utensils, and counters in the store. Other employees seemed to have long been accustomed to this. Items and cup lids contaminated by flies and insects were simply washed and then put back into use.

After the program aired, the local market supervision bureau quickly rushed to the store involved, but found that the store was undergoing renovation. People from nearby shops said that this store began upgrade renovations a few days ago and was still under construction. Construction workers said it was expected to be completed in two or three days.

During law enforcement, the person in charge of the store involved could not be reached temporarily. Law enforcement officers found remaining raw materials in a second-floor warehouse. Because they were suspected of having non-compliant labels, they were seized as well, and an investigation was immediately opened into the store. Staff said that the content involved in the reporter's investigation could serve as evidence for the market supervision bureau's investigation. At the same time, they said that follow-up targeted inspections would be carried out on similar stores within their jurisdiction to prevent similar problems from recurring.

At present, the renovation work at the store involved has been stopped. The property management of Ningju Xintiandi in Yichang has shut down the store, and the store has been sealed.

In response to the media exposure, Mixue Bingcheng customer service replied that it would record the issues in detail and provide timely feedback. The store manager said that the problems captured in the video were the personal violations of employees, saying, "We require that anything unused be thrown away directly." When the reporter pressed further, asking "Why was the food safety hazard not detected in time?", the manager argued, "It's impossible to watch 24 hours a day." In addition, the manager also told the reporter that afterward they would communicate with the company to strengthen supervision of the store.

Similar situations are not isolated cases. In another report aired by "Jingshi Live" the same day, the Shanghai Auntie store at Hankou City Plaza was also exposed for food safety problems. The reporter's investigation found that staff at the store involved "artificially extended the life" of expired ingredients and arbitrarily altered the shelf life of toppings. Nearly half of the toppings placed on the counter had already exceeded their expiration date, but the employees still continued to use them, saying that doing so was to save costs.

When the reporter visited the store again, the two employees involved had already resigned. The store clerk explained that the store involved currently had no manager, which led these two employees to act more freely. After the brand supervisor arrived at the scene, they said that after verifying the relevant situation, strict handling would be applied. The brand also replied, "The company has relevant regulations. If the situation is verified, the store involved will be ordered to rectify."

After learning of the situation, staff from the local market supervision bureau arrived at the scene and inspected the back kitchen and food ingredients of the store involved to check whether that day's ingredients were still within their shelf life. Subsequently, they would investigate relevant records by reviewing surveillance footage and the label-printing backend.

Staff said that Shanghai Auntie's use of expired ingredients and alteration of shelf-life labels not only exposed the brand's food safety management loopholes, but also was suspected of violating the law. Law enforcement officers fixed evidence on site, opened an investigation into the store, and the store involved was immediately closed.

Images from: internet screenshots

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