Is coffee a beverage? What a canned drink recall case shows

A consumer reported finding what looked like a cockroach in a bottle of Guangzhou-style pineapple beer bought during the Mid-Autumn Festival, and photos spread quickly online. The manufacturer said its production process is strictly hygienic and that no complaint reached official channels. The brand dates to 1934, so the claim touched years of consumer memory for a familiar local drink.

Whatever the outcome, the case shows how a single foreign-object report can push a packaged drink into a trust crisis. As is coffee a beverage, so are canned teas and sodas: drinks shipped in sealed containers still depend on storage and handling after production. The details of this claim remain unverified, and food safety stays a bottom-line issue for any brand.

Recently, a netizen posted that they found a cockroach in a bottle of Guangzhou-style pineapple beer, an old domestic brand drink, purchased during the Mid-Autumn Festival. The related photos quickly attracted widespread attention. The poster said that when they poured it out to drink that day, they noticed a foreign object at the can opening that looked like a cockroach larva, and later pixelated the image as required by the platform. Many netizens in the comments expressed shock and even strong discomfort. Some netizens explained that the foreign object in the picture might be a cockroach egg capsule, or possibly the result of a cockroach crawling in to lay eggs during storage. This Guangdong national drink, founded in 1934, carries the childhood memories of several generations, and this incident has left many consumers deeply saddened. The manufacturer responded that the production process is strictly hygienic, that the possibility of foreign objects is extremely low, and that no complaint had been received through official channels. The truth of the incident remains to be verified, but food safety, as a bottom-line issue, has once again sounded the alarm of a trust crisis for an old brand.

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Recently, a netizen posted a complaint claiming to have found a cockroach in Guangzhou-style pineapple beer, and the matter quickly stirred public concern about food safety.

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, the poster bought a historic domestic drink, Guangzhou-style pineapple beer, but on the very same day when pouring it out to drink, they discovered a cockroach inside.

From the photos posted by the poster, a foreign object suspected to be a cockroach larva was attached to the opening of the pineapple beer can, after which a heavy mosaic was applied at the platform's request. In the comments section, netizens expressed shock and disbelief one after another. Some had just bought the same pineapple beer, while others were drinking pineapple beer while scrolling through the post, which directly caused strong discomfort.

Some netizens pointed out that the foreign object in the photo should be a cockroach egg capsule, speculating that it might have been caused by a cockroach crawling onto it to lay eggs during storage. The fact that such a large foreign object could get into a canned drink inevitably raises doubts about whether the product's sealing standards during production are adequate.

This time-honored domestic brand occupies a rather important place in the minds of Guangdong consumers. Guangzhou-style pineapple beer was born in 1934 and is a national drink in the eyes of several generations of Guangdong people. For those born in the 1980s and 1990s, it is even more of an inseparable childhood memory.

Many netizens admitted that this pineapple beer has always been a must-have choice for cooling off in summer, and now seeing it embroiled in a shocking food safety issue truly makes them very sad. They sincerely hope that this drink they grew up with will not collapse in reputation just like that.

The consumer who posted the complaint told a reporter from Nandu Bay Finance that on the same day she found the cockroach in the product, she called the manufacturer's phone number, but no one answered. In the post, she also mentioned that when she called, she found the number was an empty one.

However, the company that produces this Guangzhou-style pineapple beer responded that it had not recently received consumer complaints through official channels, and stressed that the production process for the pineapple beer is strict and hygienic, with "the liquid in the can passing through a 1u filter bag," so the probability of foreign objects appearing is extremely low.

Netizens' views were divided. Some suggested that the consumer report the matter to 12315 and use market regulatory authorities to trace whether there were problems with the same batch of pineapple beer; others believed that such issues are extremely difficult to obtain evidence for and that in the end it would likely be hard to reach a proper resolution.

Beverage safety incidents occur repeatedly, and due to insufficient evidence, it is difficult to determine for the moment whether the manufacturer is actually at fault. Some netizens even speculated that such incidents might be a commercial war launched behind the scenes by competitors, though this claim is also currently impossible to verify.

In short, food safety is a bottom line that cannot be crossed. For an old brand with extremely high national recognition like Guangzhou-style pineapple beer, once it is confirmed that there are problems with product quality, what will inevitably follow is a huge trust crisis among consumers toward the brand.

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