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Bubble tea, also called boba, or pearl-tea, had its beginnings in Taiwan but has spread in popularity throughout the world. The creamy milk-tea dotted with chewy, gummy-like tapioca pearls and endless flavor possibilities makes this the perfect snack when you can’t decide if you want something to drink or something to eat.

The tapioca pearls that give these milky drinks their fun texture are made from cassava root. Or, at least they should be. But an investigation in China has turned up a “tapioca” plant that makes pearls from materials that aren’t even edible…

On October 19 in Tsingtao City, China, one drinker of bubble tea received a CT scan with some strange results: a number of little white dots appearing in the drinker’s stomach on the scan, according to a Shangdong Province TV news report. After the discovery, the reporter who covered the story went to the same bubble tea shop as the patient had to order a drink then receive a CT scan herself. The result was the same: little white dots filling her stomach.

According to the head physician at East Tsingtao Intestinal Clinic, tapioca is a starchy food that is generally digested and absorbed like any other food. It should not sit in stomach like it appeared to be doing on the CT scan.

Consulting the employees at various bubble tea shops around the city, when asked what tapioca pearls are made of, replies varied from “starch” to “potatoes”, and even an occasional “I don’t know”, which left many netizens wondering what on earth those tapioca pearls were made of.

Finally getting to the source, the reporter questioned a shop keeper at a tapioca wholesaler, who replied, “If no one’s getting sick from it then it doesn’t matter what it’s made of.”

Not at all satisfied or comforted by the answer, the investigation continued. At last, an employee at a different shop gave a more detailed, yet much more disturbing answer:

“They’re chemically made at a factory. It’s pretty weird, but they’re made with things like the soles of leather shoes and old tires.”

▼ Looks like some real good eats!

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Images: FreeDigitalPhotos (1, 2)

Obviously, things like tires and the soles of shoes weren’t meant to be consumed, and doing so can be very detrimental to your health, as these materials cannot be digested or absorbed by the digestive system. If they do not pass through, you risk severe blockages which may require surgery to fix.

There is no word yet what is being done with this revelation, if anything, but we can only hope that the factory trying to market chemically altered garbage as food gets shut down!

Source: Yahoo! Japan News
Top image: FreeDigitalPhotos/ rakratchada torsap (edited by RocketNews24)