Mango smoothies, one of the nation’s favorite summertime dessert drinks, are set for a big launch in Europe this week, with the hope the drink attains the same worldwide success as Taiwanese pearl milk tea (珍珠奶茶) did a few years ago.
Chang Chieh-mei (張介梅), owner of the now closed shaved ice purveyor Ice Monster on Taipei’s Yongkang Street (永康街), known for its mango shaved ice desserts, said her company is collaborating with Panos, a Belgian chain of cafes and diners.
Chang said her company will supply 400 Panos cafes and franchise stores in Belgium with the ingredients for mango and kiwi fruit smoothies starting today.
The two companies also have plans to sell mango smoothies in Panos cafe in other European countries, she added.
Chang said she has spent more than six months researching how best to ship the frozen mango juice to Europe in a way that preserves its original freshness and which keeps the original smoothie flavor intact.
“These were the problems we had to overcome,” she said. “All the ingredients also have to pass the EU’s stringent food safety and hygiene standards, and as such the ingredients cannot contain any preservatives.”
“Now we are sure we can guarantee that every cup of fruit smoothie that people consume in Belgium is made using the original ingredients and with its original flavor. Every cup has the same great taste as we experience in Taiwan,” she said.
Chang said her company is looking to develop other foods and beverages made from Taiwanese fruit.
“We will use Taiwanese fruit to break into international markets,” she said.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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