In comparing this study to the informative publication by Chiuet al. [4], their study explored the common scalding
agents in China whereas in this paper a larger variety of liquids were examined and these aimed to reflect the likely causative agents of scalds within the UK. Similar cooling rates were demonstrated between the two series for water, coffee and tea but there was a difference in the starting temperature of these liquids. They detected lower initial temperatures of milk tea, coffee and water varying from 60 C to 73 C whereas in this study the temperatures for these fluids ranged from 82 C to 88 C. This may be due to experimental differences in that in our study a probe thermometer was used in an attempt to measure the temperature of the entire liquid whereas in the paper by Chiu et al. a non-contact infra-red thermometer was used which may have only measured the surface temperature of the fluid. Furthermore, in their study the drinks were ‘‘obtained from commercial sources’’ as opposed to preparation of the beverages in household kitchen. Initial temperatures of ‘‘takeaway’’ drinks in our experiments ranged from 67 C to 85 C