More than half of the 15 beverage chain stores selling “biggie size” tea drinks tested by the Consumers’ Foundation did not meet food sanitation standards, the foundation said yesterday.
Large size tea drinks have become very popular among those who wish to pay less for more, with a 1,000ml tea drink costing only about NT$20 to NT$25.
These drink stands are usually found at night markets or popular shopping districts.
“The good news is that none of the products contained coumarin, a chemical food additive that may be harmful to humans,” foundation chairman Hsieh Tien-jen (謝天仁) told a news conference. “But the bad news is that products from nine of the brand chains contained excessive amounts of bacteria, including colon bacillus.
Hsieh said Auntie A-hao (阿好嬸), one of the tea drink chains that failed the foundation’s coumarin tests months before, had cleared this problem. However, this time its drinks were found to contain excessively high amounts of bacteria, he said.
Yu Kai-hsiung (游開雄), publisher of the Consumer magazine, said that since most of these “biggie size” drinks were sold in open-air booths, “the drinks, the tools and the hands of the sellers can be easily contaminated.”
He added that high sugar content was another concern.
“According to the Department of Health, an adult should take in less than 50g of white sugar per day,” he said. “However, most of the drinks contain 40g to 100g of sugar in each glass.”
No comment was available from “Auntie A-hao” at press time.
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