Anhui woman accused Chagee tea shop of mercury in her drink on April 27; police investigation on April 29 reveals her boyfriend as the culprit. No health issues reported.
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A Chinese woman who accused a famous chain of milk tea shops of planting mercury in her drink was later revealed to be the target of poisoning by her boyfriend, according to an official investigation. The incident sparked widespread public attention on food safety before taking a dramatic twist that shocked netizens.
The woman, surnamed Zhang, hails from Anhui province in central China. She initially took to social media to complain that a Chagee milk tea shop had laced her drink with mercury granules, triggering concerns about the brand’s food safety.
Zhang stated that her boyfriend bought the milk tea for her on April 27. She said the first few sips were fine, but later she felt small granules in her mouth that “did not taste like tapioca bubbles”—a common topping in milk tea. She chewed on the granules, found them very tough, spat them out, and noticed tiny silver slivers that she identified as mercury.
Zhang called the Chagee shop to complain, but the staff denied any wrongdoing, saying “it was impossible for such a thing to happen in our production process” and suggesting she contact the police. She subsequently called the police and notified a local consumer association, while sharing the incident online—quickly drawing public attention to food safety issues and prompting some netizens to denounce the Chagee brand.
In response, the Chagee shop stated that it was taking the matter seriously and would fully cooperate with the police and market regulators to investigate the incident.
Local authorities intervened the next day, and their investigation results, announced on April 29, took the public by surprise. The investigation team confirmed that the Chagee shop’s ingredients and production procedures were all safe, and the “foreign matter” (mercury) in the milk tea had been “planted by the buyer of the milk tea.”
The investigation team added that they had arrested the suspect, collected relevant evidence, and the case was under further investigation. While the official announcement did not mention names or the suspect’s identity, many netizens connected the dots based on Zhang’s earlier account and deduced that her boyfriend—the person who bought the milk tea—was the culprit.
The twist sparked fierce discussions online. “This is an attempted murder,” one netizen commented. Another said, “I knew the mercury must not have come from the shop. What would a shop keep that for?” A third netizen sympathized with the brand: “Poor milk tea brand, taking the blame for nothing.”
Zhang did not report any health issues following the incident, but mercury poisoning can be fatal in serious cases. It is widely known that exposure to a mercury concentration of over 1.2mg per cubic metre can cause acute intoxication. Symptoms of acute mercury poisoning include damage to the respiratory and digestive systems, skin rashes, chest pain, fatigue, and diarrhoea.
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Editor: Crystal H
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