BreadTalk has stopped selling its “freshly prepared” soya bean milk after a photograph showing a staff member filling up plastic bottles with Yeo’s brand soya bean milk made its rounds on the Internet.

When contacted by The Straits Times yesterday, the confectionery chain admitted it buys the drink in one-liter packets from beverage giant Yeo Hiap Seng in bulk, repackages it into bottles with the words “freshly prepared” on them, seals the bottles, and then sells them.

The photograph was posted on the online site Redwire Times on Monday evening. The netizen, who posted it under the handle Kev, called the discovery “shocking”.

“This ‘freshly prepared’ soya bean milk from BreadTalk always tasted very familiar, but somehow I couldn’t figure out why until now. You see for yourself why. This BreadTalk staff is just pouring Yeo’s soya bean milk into bottles of ‘freshly prepared’ soya bean sold by BreadTalk,” he said.

Ms. Joyce Koh, the 46-outlet BreadTalk Group’s senior vice-president of brand development, admitted the soya bean milk was “completely Yeo’s”. The problem, she said, arose after the chain used the same type of bottles it used to package fresh juice for sale for the soya bean milk. These bottles had the words “freshly prepared” on them.