Starbucks Korea has officially confirmed that the carcinogen formaldehyde was detected in its Summer Carry Bag, a giveaway item to customers.

In a statement on Thursday, the global coffeehouse chain said it had the bag tested at a state-recognized facility on Friday and the results found an average of 459 milligrams per kilogram of the substance on the outer cover of a pre-opened bag and 244 milligrams on the inside skin.

For bags which had been unpackaged for two months, the readings dropped to 271 milligrams on the outside and 22 milligrams on the inside.

Starbucks apologized for the delay in interpreting the test results.
 
The suspicion came to light after an anonymous post online claimed that the bag had traces of the carcinogen which was responsible for the unappealing smell recipients of the item had complained about the month before.