Chinese brewery Tsingtao said Friday it had launched an investigation after a video showing a factory employee urinating on raw materials went viral this week.
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Footage posted online Thursday purportedly shows a warehouse worker at Tsingtao Brewery Co., one of China’s largest beer makers, climbing into a large container and relieving himself of its contents.
The video spread widely on Chinese social media, reaching tens of millions of views on the popular Weibo platform.
This is the viral video that shows a suspected Tsingtao Beer Factory 3 worker climbing over a wall at the raw material production site and starting to urinate. Many people think that this is a sting operation by a rival company: one person peed, another leaked the video? 🍻🤢 pic.twitter.com/eJcYljo2aQ
— Manya Koetse (@manyapan) October 21, 2023
Tsingtao said Friday that police had been contacted about the incident and that an investigation was underway.
“Our company attaches great importance to the Tsingtao No. video. 3 Brewery, which was released on October 19,” the beer maker said in a statement.
“We reported the incident to the police as soon as possible and public security organs are participating in the investigation,” he added. “Currently, the batch of malt in question is completely sealed. The company continues to strengthen its management practices and guarantee the quality of its products.”
Tsingtao, China’s second-largest brewery, is one of the country’s best-known beverage brands and its large bottles of lager can be found in most bars and restaurants in East Asia.
In recent years, the Hong Kong-listed company has sought to capitalize on the changing tastes of young Chinese drinkers by switching to craft beers and other products.