Mixed effects over milk tea deaths

By Cheneen R. Capon
THE incident in Manila involving the death of two persons after allegedly consuming milk tea had contrasting effects in Davao City, with some establishments offering the same product noting a drop in sales while others announcing their customers even went up.
Service crew Elyza P. Tio of 360° Handshaked Tea located at Gasisano Mall of Davao initially expected that the number of their customers would drop because of the April 11 incident.
She was wrong.
“We’re not really affected here. Actually, we had more customers than before. Our patrons continued to buy our milk teas to prove that we sell safe and healthy products,” Tio told Edge Davao yesterday.
She said that their stall located near the entrance of the mall now sells more than 300 cups of different affordable flavored milk teas and other tea-based beverages.
Tio also said that more students are buying milk teas out of curiosity.
“Some nosy customers asked us if we’re sure of the safety of our products and we say ‘yes’ because we know where our ingredients are coming from and our management is strict on safety and food preparation protocols,” she said.
Tio believes there was foul play behind the incident in Manila.
In the case of Crepelato, another Davao-based establishment selling gelato ice cream and milk teas, sales went down after the incident.
“Our sales went down up to 80 percent after the news went out,” three-year service crew memebr Floramie Alberca said.
The 29-year-old Alberca said she used to sell almost a hundred cups before the incident, but they only sold less than 50 cups on the day the news came out.
“Malayo pa lang naririnig na naming yung ibang customers na wag daw bumili ng milk teas kasi may la son daw. Pero bumabalik naman ngayon ulit ang mga customers namin (From the distance we can hear some of the customers saying not to buy milk tea because of poison. But, our customers have now come back),”Alberca said.
Meanwhile, Tealoca service crew Charlot Verdida said their patrons continue to buy their milk teas because these have already been tested and proven by their regular customers themselves.
“Our regular customers reacted to the news but they still buy our beverages because they’ve been drinking our milk teas for a long time,” Verdida, who is now with Tealoca for five months already.
Happy Lemon barista Bhrex Delfino said their sales were not also affected by the recent news.
“An email was sent to our branches here that the poisoning was caused by cyanide,” said Delfino, who’s working with Happy Lemon Gaisano Mall lower ground branch, said.
However, this was not confirmed by authorities.
Delfino said their base ingredients are checked and replaced every four hours.
“We impose strictly here our protocols on food safety and food handling. We assure that our base ingredients like teas are replaced every four hours to assure the freshness,” he said.
All milk tea companies said they are willing to be inspected either by the Department of Health or Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFD) if it is necessary.
Edge Davao tried to reach both regional agencies but there was no response from them.
The DOH central office earlier warned the public to be cautious on all beverages especially this summer period when food easily spoils because of high temperature.
Malacañang earlier disclosed in a report that it has the result of the milk tea testing but it cannot release it because it has to be verified. The test was conducted by the BFD.