Background
Presotea comes from a famous fifth-generation tea factory. Not only are they the only drink shop chain with their own tea factory, they’re also the biggest tea leaf contractors in Taiwan, allowing them to consistently provide high quality tea leaves to customers.¹
2015 Violation of Food Safety Standards
In 2015, Presotea was found in violation of Food Safety Standards during a routine check that revealed their rose tea contained 0.15ppm of the pesticide Penconazole, higher than the allowed 0.05ppm; additionally, traces of the banned Phosalone were found as well. As the ingredients involved in both cases were from New Taipei, the New Taipei health bureau was notified to handle the case.²
2017 Violation of Fair Trade Law
In the process of recruiting and franchising, Presotea failed to provide critical information about franchising and trades to business partners, and were found in violation of Article 25 of the Fair Trade Law. They were penalized NT$200,000 and ordered to desist the above-mentioned illegal acts.³
Labor Standard violations
2018 Violation of the Labour Standards Act
Date of announcement: 2019. 02. 20
Date of penalty: 2018. 12. 14
Case number: 1073592713
Violation: Article 21 Item 1 of the Labour Standards Act⁴
2019 Violation of the Labour Standards Act
Date of announcement: 2019. 03. 04
Date of penalty: 2019. 02. 21
Case number: 1081603410
Violation: Article 22 Item 2 of the Labour Standards Act⁵
2019 Hong Kong protests
In recent years, China has continuously taken action to bully Taiwan and has launched “witch hunts” against international companies. Taiwanese drink shop chains are the latest in the line of fire, with Chinese netizens labelling several drink shops as being “pro-independence”. Many brands have come out in support of the “One-China” policy in order to appease the Chinese market and continue securing Chinese revenue. Following Yifang Fruit Tea’s public internet post supporting “One China Two Systems”, many other Taiwanese drink shop chains have been implicated in the controversy as well.⁶
Presotea was listed among drink shops that refrained from supporting the One-China policy during the Hong Kong protests drink shop controversy.⁷
Sources
