On September 18, Park Hee-seung, a member of the Democratic Party, received a report from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety regarding violations of the Food Sanitation Law by major coffee franchises. The report showed that there were 188 violations by the top 10 coffee franchises last year, a 2.5-fold increase compared to 2020 (76 violations).

When analyzing the average number of violations per store for each brand over the past six years, the highest rates were observed in Compose Coffee and The Venti (1.3%), Mega Coffee (1.2%), Hasam-dong Coffee (1.1%), followed by Twosome Place and Hollys (1.0%). On the other hand, the lowest rates were found in Starbucks (0.2%) and Ediya Coffee and Pascucci (0.3%).

In terms of the total number of violations per brand, Mega Coffee (138 cases), Compose Coffee (135 cases), Twosome Place (84 cases), The Venti (69 cases), and Paik’s Coffee (62 cases) topped the list.

Out of the 634 total violations, 287 cases (45.3%) were due to a lack of hygiene education, followed by standards and specifications violations (151 cases, 23.8%), failure to report business changes (50 cases, 7.9%), violations of hygienic handling standards (48 cases, 7.7%), and failure to conduct health examinations (36 cases, 5.7%).

Representative Park Hee-seung urged, “Since ice and cold drinks are mostly unheated, they can easily become contaminated with bacteria or viruses during the summer, leading to diseases like enteritis and food poisoning. As coffee is a popular and highly consumed beverage during summer, thorough hygiene management and supervision are essential.”