No contaminants found in ‘Scream’ drinks after school sports day tampering scare, police say

No foreign substances have been found in sports drinks that sparked a tampering scare at a secondary school’s athletics meet, police have said, after videos of liquid squirting out of the sides of the bottles were widely circulated on social media.

Toxicology tests conducted at the Government Laboratory found no abnormal, toxic, or foreign substances injected into the drinks, Senior Superintendent Hung Ngai of the East Kowloon Regional Crime Headquarters said at a Wednesday press conference.

Samples of the drinks were sent to the government facility for testing after students at Maryknoll Secondary School suspected the bottles had been punctured.

A total of 16 people reported feeling unwell at the sports meet, experiencing vomiting, diarrhoea, and dizziness. However, none showed signs they had been poisoned and all were discharged yesterday after seeking medical attention.

The beverage, called “Scream,” is a sports drink produced by Nongfu Spring, China’s largest packaged drinking water supplier and a leading beverage company.

A video posted on Threads showed liquid shooting out of the side of a bottle when a student squeezed it.

Superintendent Hung said on Wednesday that water had been trapped between the bottle and its plastic label during storage and shot out of the label’s easy-tear perforations when pressure was applied.

Officers also conducted a live demonstration of water squirting out of the perforations at the press conference.

In addition to the lab tests, police also looked into the event procedures and the storage, transportation, and distribution of the drinks.

‘Misunderstanding’

Nongfu Spring’s sole distributor in Hong Kong, Uni-China Group, offered a similar explanation, saying in a statement that the small holes were a normal packaging design. The water was only trapped between the surface of the bottle and the label, it said.

The distributor also said that it understands school teachers acted out of care for students, which led to the “misunderstanding.”

It said that the drinks are produced in a strictly monitored environment and must meet internationally recognised quality and safety standards before leaving the factory.

“All products are imported and distributed through regular channels and comply with relevant food safety regulations in Hong Kong, so consumers can purchase and drink with peace of mind,” it said.

The group added that it will launch a citywide tasting event from October 1 to 4 called “Scream Across Town,” allowing the public to try the sports drink themselves.

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James Lee is a reporter at Hong Kong Free Press with an interest in culture and social issues. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English and a minor in Journalism from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he witnessed the institution’s transformation over the course of the 2019 extradition bill protests and after the passing of the Beijing-imposed security law.

Since joining HKFP in 2023, he has covered local politics, the city’s housing crisis, as well as landmark court cases including the 47 democrats national security trial. He was previously a reporter at The Standard where he interviewed pro-establishment heavyweights and extensively covered the Covid-19 pandemic and Hong Kong’s political overhauls under the national security law.