Unsanitary conditions uncovered at coffee chains nationwide

Twenty-one major South Korean coffee shop and fresh juice franchises have come under fire for violating the nation’s Food Safety Act, according to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety on Thursday.

The ministry inspected 4,071 establishments Aug. 13-17. Franchises that were found to be in violation included Tom N Toms, A Twosome Place, Paris Baguette and Ediya Coffe. 

The franchises were found to have violated a number of food safety laws from selling and using expired products to failure to maintain sanitary conditions. Other violations included running nonregistered businesses and failing to monitor employee health.

Tom N Toms’ Masan Samgye branch in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, had reportedly been storing items long past their expiration dates and selling them to customers.

A Twosome Place’s Dongsuwon Hospital branch in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, and Paris Baguette’s Dongnae Station branch in Busan received low grades for hygiene from the health inspectors. 

Following the shocking findings, inspectors said they ran additional tests on the ice at those establishments and found that ice served to customers showed high levels of coliform bacterial contamination. 

The ice at Ediya Coffee’s Gusan Mijang branch, in particular, had 23,000 parts per millimeter of bacterial content -- more than 23 times the acceptable limit.

Places that failed the inspections will have three months to remedy the problems, and then will undergo further inspections.

By Catherine Chung (cec82@heraldcorp.com)