Starbucks coffee franchises and McDonald's restaurants stopped using paper napkins with their logos yesterday after the Consumers' Foundation claimed to have found "fluorescent material" in them.
Starbucks and McDonald's said they had stopped using their logo napkins to ease consumer fears, but they voiced reservations about the foundation's findings.
"Our paper napkins are the same as the paper napkins used in all Starbucks outlets around the world. We will contact our headquarters in the US and decide what to do next. Right now, we use napkins purchased locally," Starbucks spokesman Chao Jen-an (趙仁安) said.
PHOTO: SUNG CHIH-HSIUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Like Starbucks, McDonald's also said its paper napkins were supplied by its US headquarters and should be safe for use.
"We will ask our napkin supplier and an impartial laboratory in Taiwan to conduct another safety test on our napkins. Until the impartial test result comes out, we will replace our napkins," McDonald's spokesman Chen Chia-hsiang (陳家祥) said.
The Consumers' Foundation tested paper napkins from 18 chain restaurants and coffee shops, and reported that all contained fluorescent matter.
"When we clean our faces or mouths with these napkins, they could cause a rash or other health problems," foundation deputy secretary-general You Kai-hsiung (游開雄) said yesterday.
He urged consumers not to use napkins at restaurant or coffee-shop chains until the problem had been addressed.
There are 151 Starbucks stores and 346 McDonald's restaurants in the country.
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