Chinese beverage giant Wahaha faces a food safety crisis. A netizen from Yunnan posted a video on social media claiming that on July 4th, he bought a bottle of Wahaha Nutrient Express from a supermarket downstairs from his home and found white maggots wriggling inside after opening the cap. The news quickly caught public attention.
According to Mr. Liu, a resident of Qujing, Yunnan, when he returned home that day, he opened three bottles of Wahaha Nutrient Express for his children to drink, only to discover “a bug inside the cup, and when he opened the bottle, there were two bugs on the lid.” Mr. Liu was completely shocked by the discovery.
What shocked him even more was that when he went to the supermarket for a replacement, he found bugs in the new bottle as well. The store owner immediately called the manufacturer. When the manufacturer’s representative opened a bottle of the same product in front of everyone to inspect, they also found bugs inside.
On July 7th, reporters from Urban Scene contacted the Qujing Market Supervision Bureau, and the operator said, “The regulatory authority has now intervened in the matter.”
On July 8th, Wahaha officials responded to Nandu, stating that after high-temperature sterilization, it is impossible for live organisms to appear in their products. “Our technical staff preliminarily determined that the problem lies in the storage environment and conditions of the merchants. Bugs were also found on products of other brands on-site. The bugs would crawl in through the threaded bottle caps.”
Wahaha’s response sparked doubts and criticism from netizens, accusing Wahaha of trying to shift blame onto the merchants. “Bugs crawling through the threaded bottle cap, are you trying to insult my intelligence by saying that?” “If it’s a weak excuse, it’s better to silently admit the mistake.” “Storage and transportation issues? Weren’t you supposed to be sealed?” “Clearly, there’s a problem in the production process. The bottle cap has a good seal, and neither air nor water can get in.”
“Since Wahaha started transferring state-owned assets, the quality of their products has been declining.” “I used to drink Nutrient Express a lot in my childhood and encountered counterfeit products, so I stopped drinking it. Some Nutrient Express tastes like plain water, not even as good as plain water, it’s bitter.”
Currently, Mr. Liu’s related videos seem to have been deleted and cannot be found.
—