50 Lan Tea Beverage's E. coli group exceeds the standard by 46 times; Taoyuan Wu Cha Dao also makes the list
The scandal over 50 Lan's candied plum food additives exceeding the limit had barely broken when the Taoyuan City Health Bureau's inspection found that 50 Lan's black tea latte had coliform bacteria levels 46 times over the limit. In addition, Wucha Dao's jasmine milk tea and Mister dount's ice cubes also failed to meet the regulations, with an overall failure rate of 14%. The Health Bureau has already ordered the non-compliant businesses to make improvements within a set deadline and to undergo re-inspection at a later date; those that fail to improve by the deadline can be fined 3 to 3 million yuan under the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation.
In this round, the Health Bureau inspected a total of 71 beverage and ice products. Among them, 50 Lan's (Dacheng Store) black tea latte, Wucha Dao's jasmine milk tea, Songguo Ice City's plain shaved ice, Bingshan Xiaozhan's watermelon juice, Yuan Zhi Jia's watermelon juice, and Zhenxing Ice Shop's mango milk shaved ice were found to have coliform bacteria levels exceeding the limit. 50 Lan tested at 460 MPN/g, 46 times more than the standard of 10 MPN/g, while Wucha Dao tested at 210 MPN/g, 21 times the standard.
The self-made ice cubes of Jinxin Tea Shop, Mister dount, Ah Hong Lemon Creative Shop, and Longxing Ice Fruit Shop were also found to have total bacterial counts ranging from 150 to 4200 CFU/ml (standard: 100 CFU/ml); among them, Jinxin Tea Shop also tested positive for coliform bacteria (the standard allows none to be detected).
The Health Bureau stated that total bacterial count, coliform bacteria, and E. coli are all indicator organisms for ice product hygiene. Although they are not necessarily directly pathogenic, exceeding the standard indicates poor hygiene conditions during the production process, or improper food materials, packaging procedures, and handling by workers, such as an ice scoop being placed directly into the ice storage bin, or the water filter used for making ice not having its filter cartridge replaced regularly, all of which may lead to food contamination.
The Health Bureau reminds the public to pay special attention to cleanliness and hygiene when consuming ice products, and since ice products are also high in calories, it is recommended to replace other toppings with fruit to reduce additional intake.