Controversy over drawing water from public toilets for coffee at Starbucks Coffee Shop, Bank of China Building, Central, Hong Kong

The controversial winner's Starbucks Coffee Shop, located on the ground floor of Bank of China Building in Central, sends staff to push water carts to the men's toilet in the parking lot of the building every day, Hong Kong's Apple Daily reported. "Starbucks Coffee Shop" is used to get fresh water from the faucet hose that says "Starbucks Cafe only". The complainant pointed out that the toilet was narrow and worried about the presence of bacteria, was concerned about whether Starbucks would have hygiene problems in drawing water from the toilet, and considered that Starbucks coffee was expensive and should use quality water.

Fehd: warning has been issued for violation

According to the report, from about 9 a.m. to 12:00 every day, the staff will push a metal water wheel nearly one meter high back and forth many times, using the staff passage to the toilet in the parking lot more than 70 meters away from the coffee shop. When collecting water, the staff will connect the water hose to the toilet faucet, fill the water truck and transport it back to the coffee shop, which will be filtered and used for coffee. During the discharge, the staff will use another water truck to push the sewage from the coffee shop back to the toilet and dump it.

After receiving the relevant complaint, the Fehd inspected the shop last Friday and later said that the shop "did not comply with the requirements in the method and location of collecting water". It has issued a warning to the person in charge, asking for immediate rectification, and said that it would follow up and take appropriate action later.

Starbucks: perfect Filtration system

A spokesman for Starbucks in Hong Kong stressed that the faucets in the above toilets are supplied with potable water. As to why it was necessary to take fresh water from the toilet, she explained that when renting the lobby of the Bank of China Building in 2011, there was no direct water source, so it had to be obtained from the nearest water source provided by the Bank of China. However, she stressed that the water tanks used by the water tankers are sealed and will be cleaned and disinfected regularly, and the potable water will be used through an advanced filtration system to ensure cleanliness. But in an effort to allay public concerns about the incident, Starbucks has switched to distilled water since Friday and is looking for a new source of water, reiterating that no other branch takes water from toilets.

Xinzhong property Management Co., Ltd., which is responsible for the management of the Bank of China Building, responded that when leasing out the site, the property management company had made it clear to tenants that there was no direct water supply and that tenants had to ensure compliance with the Hong Kong Food Safety Ordinance when cooking food.

Bank of China Building: tenants knew there was no direct water source.

However, the President of the Hong Kong Restaurant Association, Mr Wong Ka-wo, still has doubts about the hygiene of obtaining potable water from toilets because bacteria are inevitable in toilets and the general potable water filtration system may not be able to completely kill bacteria. According to online information, the more common bacteria in toilets include Escherichia coli and staphylococci.

(responsible Editor: Leo)

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