Additive scandal poisons liquor stocks (3)

Henry Lin, a spokesperson for the Shanghai office of Intertek, told the Global Times Tuesday that he is not authorized to reveal clients' information, but admitted they had tested some liquor samples.

"The entire testing process of Intertek is in accordance with Chinese standards," said Lin.

Liu Hui, a senior analyst at Capital Securities, told the Global Times that the industry is recovering from the incident, and the situation is far less serious than the melamine scandal in the dairy industry in 2008.

Plasticizers are mainly used in plastics, but have also been used in beverages to condense them for a better taste.

"It is not very likely that liquor producers add plasticizers on purpose to improve the taste, since the amount is too small to change the flavor," Liu said.

Liu noted that currently there is still no concrete standard in terms of plasticizer for the liquor industry. But the country has clear standards on quantities of plasticizer for the food industry.