In a revelation that could send boba shops everywhere into a panic, new research suggests that those delicious chewy tapioca balls that go in your boba tea may include chemicals that cause cancer. Whaaaaat.Researchers at the University Hospital AAchen in Germany have reportedly found traces of a carcinogenic chemical known as aspolychlorinated biphenyls in tapioca ball samples: Bubble Tea Tapioca Pearls May Contain Cancer-Causing Chemicals, German Study Claims.
After analyzing the tapioca balls which make up the ‘bubbles' in the drink, researchers from the University Hospital Aachen, for instance, found that the pearls contained polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs such as styrene, acetophenone, and brominated substances, chemicals that shouldn't be in food at all, researchers told German paper The Local.Noooooo! Everyone, take a moment to consider how many tapioca balls you've consumed in your lifetime. Boba shops are going to have to start posting signs declaring "OUR BALLS HAVE NO PCBs." More here: Tapioca pearls in bubble tea contain carcinogens: study.
Samples were taken from an unnamed chain in Mönchengladbach, in northwest Germany and the tapioca balls were made in Taiwan.