12 iced drinks, desserts in Taipei test positive for harmful bacteria

Smoothie House among 9 vendors that failed health inspections twice

Jul. 18, 2023 18:23

Smoothie House on Yongkang Street. (Taipei City Government Department of Health photo)

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TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A total of 12 frozen desserts and iced beverages from various vendors in Taipei were found to contain harmful bacteria twice.

In a press release on Monday (July 17), the Taipei City Government Department of Health announced that thus far, in 2023, it has conducted random inspections on 299 products, including 70 toppings, 97 frozen desserts, 29 edible ice cubes, and 103 iced beverages. Of these, 20 failed the inspection, including one topping, 12 frozen desserts, and seven beverages, representing a failure rate of 6.7%.

In this year's third wave of testing, 83 products, including 46 frozen desserts, seven edible ice cubes, and 30 iced beverages were tested. These products were examined to see if they met microbial hygiene standards (Salmonella, Enterobacteriaceae, E. coli, E. coli O157:H7).

Among them, the initial results of 21 products did not meet the required standards. The businesses were notified and given a deadline to improve their products, but after the follow-up inspection, 12 items again failed to meet the allowable levels of Enterobacteriaceae.

For vendors that did not comply with the regulations, the health department has imposed fines of between NT$30,000 (US$968) and NT$3 million in accordance with the provisions of Article 17 and Article 48, Paragraph 8 of the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食安法).

The health department said the substandard products include the following: