Soft drink safety campaign launched

The Beijing health authority launched a campaign on Monday to inspect soft-drink sellers after reports that a KFC store sold edible ice with excessive bacteria.

The campaign focuses on restaurants with ice-making machines, according to the Beijing Health Inspection Station.

It follows a report by China Central Television, which said that edible ice at a KFC store in Beijing contained 19 times more bacterial colonies than allowed.

Apart from KFC, the ZKungfu, a Guangdong restaurant that has 495 chain stores nationwide, was also found to have excessive levels of bacteria, the report said.

On Sunday, the KFC said on its official micro blog that the company’s quality department has urged the staff to clean and sterilize the ice-makers and other equipment.