Coffee Shops named and shamed in South Korea

Everywhere you look there seems to be a coffee shop these days; in malls, on high streets, even at the foot of high rise residential flats and office facilities. But, what if we were to tell you that a number of high profile chains have fallen foul of food safety regulations?

Before we set panic everybody and set hordes of people running out of their coffee shops, we’re (today at least because who knows what news stories will break tomorrow) specifically referring to a report that we’ve seen emanate from South Korea.

There have been over 300 instances of failed inspections in South Korea, many of which have come from stores operated by the country’s biggest chains, data released by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety indicates.

According to the crib sheet, in the four year period between June 2011 and June 2015 there were a total of 307 recorded violations and Caffe Bene (the well-known brand that has expanded their global ventures in recent years) was named as the most frequent offender with 62 individual marks against their name.

Other chains that failed inspections include Tom N Toms Coffee, Ediya Coffee, Pasucci and Holly’s Coffee. Starbucks and Coffee Bean, two popular foreign chains, also had stores that drew the wrath of examiners, but their botches were fewer and further between.

The most common offence was that of poor staff training in food safety – 81 shops failed on this criterion. Other worrying reasons given included the selling of impure products or good that had gone past its expiration date.

Moving to quell any potential fears the politician Rep. In Jae-keun, who sits on the Health and Welfare Committee, had this to say: “The regulators should tighten the monitoring of coffee franchise stores.

“Coffee has become the favourite food item for many Koreans [and] the government should carefully investigate these coffee shops.”