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The China-based Tsingtao Brewery is facing a brouhaha thanks to a now-viral video that reportedly shows a worker at one of the company’s factories peeing into a tank.
The video, which was posted Thursday on the Chinese social media platform Weibo, shows a man in a worker’s uniform urinating in the tank, according to the BBC.
Tsingtao has not confirmed whether the culprit worked at the factory.
A Chinese language business publication quoted by the BBC claims neither the person who urinated in the tank nor the person who took the video were “direct employees” of Tsingtao.
Tsingtao released a statement saying that the batch of malt in the tank had been sealed off from use and that the urination had been reported at the “first opportunity,” according to CNBC.
“The company places high importance on the media reports and has reported the matter to the public security authorities at the first opportunity. The public security authorities are presently involved in the investigation,” according to the statement.
Of course, there were jokes on social media, with one person commenting, “I’ve always said the beer here is like horse pee. Turns out I was wrong,” and another quipping, “Thanks, I think I’ll have wine instead,” per the South China Morning Post.
The incident may have been great fodder for cheap laughs, but not for beer sales.
Tsingtao Brewery shares fell sharply on Monday when the Shanghai Stock Exchange opened, but recovered by the afternoon, CNBC reported.
