Site-Wide Activity › Forums › Tea News and Information › Uh-oh – Bubble tea kills?
- This topic has 11 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated 12 years, 8 months ago by
Robert Godden.
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September 2, 2012 at 12:39 #8223
Jackie
KeymasterDeath by bubble tea?
According to research by the German University Hospital Aachen your bubble tea has ways to send you to an early demise. If you survive childhood without choking on the “lethal” tapioca pearls, substances detected in the pearls may give you cancer sometime later in life. Those innocent happy balls have been found to be laced with “polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs such as styrene, acetophenone, and brominated substances.” All sounds pretty lethal, right? Anyway, apparently these are chemicals that shouldn’t be in food at all.
The tea tested was from an undisclosed German chain with the pearls being imported from Taiwan.
For what it’s worth, I’ve never tried bubble tea. Somehow this study hasn’t furthered my interest in tasting some. Over to you now. Are you going to risk life & limb and sip bubble tea?
Article source:
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/272016/scitech/science/bubble-tea-pearls-may-be-carcinogenic-ndash-german-study -
September 2, 2012 at 12:52 #8224
bram
ParticipantHmmm, I’ve tried it in Hamburg… And why am I not surprised that something is wrong with the stuff?
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September 2, 2012 at 12:57 #8225
Xavier
Participant“Anyway, apparently these are chemicals that shouldn’t be in food at all.”
Then why are they in bubble tea?
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September 2, 2012 at 15:36 #8227
Anonymous
InactiveSeems everything has something wrong with it. Some more lethal than others.
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September 2, 2012 at 23:18 #8233
Anonymous
InactiveThere are PCBs in all kinds of things. I was likely exposed to it as a child, our neighborhood was next to big electrical towers and everything “urban” under the sun. I remember drinking water straight from our garden hose. Yet I’m closer to 40 now, and while my mental state may be questionable, my health is still sound.
I introduced family and friends to “boba” – my favorite tea haunt sells it. I personally don’t drink it because I’m sensitive to the sugars they add to it in their “milk teas.” But the others are addicted to it. Had it this afternoon. There’s a huge bag of it in the family cupboard to make it ourselves at home. I might be tempted to take another look at the label and the origin. But I don’t know that we’ll stop drinking it.
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September 3, 2012 at 04:35 #8234
Anonymous
Inactive‘Tapioca’ eh? I’ve often wondered what happens to those polystyrene balls that form when packing material disintegrates. You know, the ones that stick to everything by static.
Thanks for that Jackie, I never had much desire to try bubble tea and you’ve managed to dispel all thought of it!
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October 26, 2012 at 21:56 #8701
Jackie
KeymasterUpdate to my original post: Just saw a new article mentioning a study by a German consumer protection agency that refutes the findings. 84 tested samples were found to be PCB free. Maybe safe to drink that stuff after all. Not that I have any desire to.
http://sampan.org/2012/10/popular-tea-beverage-found-to-be-free-of-harmful-chemicals/
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October 26, 2012 at 21:59 #8703
Gingko
Participant*I love bubble tea made of real fruit (too bad a lot of them are made of nasty flavorings), but usually I don’t take the little balls with it.
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October 26, 2012 at 22:05 #8704
lazyliteratus
ParticipantThis is the greatest news I’ve ever heard. I hate bubble tea – with the fiery passion of a thousand suns. I always knew it was evil…and now there’s possible proof.
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October 27, 2012 at 16:49 #8750
Robert Godden
ParticipantI love bubble tea when it is made from great quality tea. And I have plenty of balls.
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October 27, 2012 at 17:03 #8751
Jackie
Keymaster@thedevotea “And I have plenty of balls.” > I knew there was something funny about you. Guess everything is different Down Under.
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October 27, 2012 at 17:28 #8757
Robert Godden
ParticipantA perfectly innocent comment, @jackie, describing my preferred way of enjoying bubble tea. I am aware that many tea Traders have less balls than I.
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