'Disinfectant-flavour' bubble tea: Chinese woman suffers chemical burns

Bubble tea fans, you might want to take a sniff at your drink before slurping it.

A thirsty woman in Fujian, China, recently had a sip of her bubble tea and realised something was wrong.

The drink had a weird taste.

When her husband removed the lid of the cup, he was greeted with the pungent smell of disinfectant.

Moments later, the woman started to vomit and complained of burning pain in her throat and stomach.

The couple was having supper at a McDonald's outlet in Fuzhou Changle International Airport on April 12 after welcoming a relative there.

When they approached a staff member for help, he took a sniff of the drink and proceeded to throw it away while they were not looking. 

The staff also did not offer any explanation for the problematic drink, the couple claimed.

After retrieving the discarded cup from the bin, the man took his wife to a nearby hospital for medical attention.

There, they handed over the bubble tea for testing and their suspicions were proven - the drink contained disinfectant.

Doctors at the emergency department found that the woman suffered digestive tract injuries from the beverage.

The chemicals in the disinfectant may affect the liver and kidneys, the woman's husband was told.

She was put on a saline intravenous drip and discharged from hospital a day after the incident.

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The fast-food giant has since made a public apology, saying that the incident was due to staff error.

It said it accompanied the customer for medical treatment several times, and promised that it would strengthen its staff training and prevent a similar incident from happening.

lamminlee@asiaone.com