On 30 January, five people were reportedly rushed to the Penang Hospital after consuming durian white coffee manufactured by MyCafe.
The common symptoms showed by all consumers were extreme fatigue and a security guard even fainted after drinking the instant coffee.
The Penang Health Department has taken some samples to be examined and earlier today (February 2), MyCafe released an official statement addressing the incident.
According to MyCafe as reported by Sinchew, all affected consumers had received the 4-in-1 durian white coffee products from strangers, and the company suspected that the given coffee mixture was tampered by people with ill intentions.
In fact, the company had received a call on 29 January from a woman who claimed that she felt uncomfortable after drinking the coffee. So, representatives from MyCafe were sent to visit the woman in order to understand the situation. The company said in a statement,
“When we visited the woman, she told us that she visited a temple and got the coffee from there. She also told us that her friend who drank the same coffee from the temple also suffered from similar symptoms.”
“The next day, a video went viral on social media showing two other victims. We understand that the coffee mixture that they drank was also given by strangers.”
The company managed to bring back the ‘suspicious’ product from the first victim and found out the content was actually tampered with.
From the picture above, the package on the left has been cut open from the bottom and resealed after 12grams of unknown substances were added in. The package on the right is the original one.
“As such, we urge members of the public to not accept any of our coffee from strangers, and they should only purchase our product from authorised sellers,” the company added.
MyCafe has since lodged a police report and hopefully the culprits will be caught ASAP, because based on the statement above, it sounds like someone out there is looking for random victims to poison!
Don’t accept free coffee from strangers, guys! Stay safe!
Also read: 5 People Who Drank ‘Durian White Coffee’ Admitted to Hospital, Penang Health Dept Investigates