Coffee drinkers, beware. Seventy-five percent of local chains use lids that are potentially toxic, according to a survey released Saturday by Taipei City councilors.Taipei City councilors announced Saturday that 12 out of 16 convenience stores, chain coffee shops and fast food stores in a recent survey use lids made of polystyrene for takeout coffee drinks.
Offenders include major brands like Starbucks, McDonald's, Mos Burger, Dante Coffee and the President Chain Store Corp., according to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Councilors Liang Wen-chieh and Wu Su-yao.
“Polystyrene lids can withstand heat between 75 and 90 degrees Celsius only. If the food is any hotter, the plastic starts to melt, possibly releasing carcinogens,” said Wu.
“The Department of Health has warned consumers to pop up the lid when drinking from (polystyrene) lids, but isn't that just shifting the responsibility to consumers?” she said.
Just four of the coffee providers surveyed use the safer but pricier polypropylene lids: OK Mart, FamilyMart, Hi-Life and 85 Degrees Celsius Cafe.
Later Saturday, Taipei's Health Bureau said that polystyrene lids on hot coffee cups never exceeded 90 degrees Celsius in tests.
But the bureau will continue to communicate with local coffee providers to encourage a switch to polypropylene, said the bureau's Food and Drug Division Director Chen Li-chi.
According to the central government's Act Governing Food Sanitations, both polystyrene and polypropylene are legal as lid materials for hot drinks.
Starting July 21, food providers must label containers with its material, the temperatures sustainable and the date of manufacture.
