Using Expired Raw Materials, Starbucks In This Area Is Fined IDR 3 Billion

BEIJING - Two Starbucks coffee shops in Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province, China, were fined 1.36 million yuan or around IDR 3 billion.

The Wuxi City Market Supervisory Agency said the two outlets were found to be using expired ingredients, the Global Times reported Saturday, February 12.

The two outlets were fined 690,000 yuan and 670,000 yuan respectively, according to a written statement released by the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System of Jiangsu.

"According to store monitoring videos, workers tampered with, replaced and destroyed food shelf-life labels and used expired ingredients regularly", the agency said in a statement.

Local market regulators investigated the two outlets after The Beijing News published an investigative report on how the global chain coffee shop from the United States violated regulations and did not meet food safety standards.

The media reports disappointed Starbucks customers in China late last year.

In December 2021, Starbucks acknowledged the violation of working hours and has apologized and promised to evaluate all of its outlets in China.

Meanwhile, another US company, Airbnb, has also been fined 400,000 yuan (IDR 902 million) by market regulators in Beijing for failing to set room rates during the promotion period.