The baijiu industry has suffered a major setback after plasticizers were allegedly found in almost all brands of the liquor.
On Monday, shares in the Shenzhen-listed Jiugui Liquor Co, a large baijiu manufacturer based in Hunan province, were suspended from trade after business news website 21cbh.com reported the company's products were found to contain excessive plasticizers.
The trading of shares in the company will resume after the relevant facts are verified, the suspension notice said.
The company's shares remained suspended on Tuesday.
"I felt very confused about the test results as reported by media because there is no special national standard for such a chemical in baijiu at all. And now the company's products have been sent to a qualified department to be tested," Fan Zhen, vice-president of Jiugui Liquor, was quoted as saying by China Central Television on Tuesday.
Plasticizers are banned in China as food additives because the chemicals can cause male fertility problems and induce early female puberty, and experiments on animals have demonstrated a carcinogenic effect.
Liquor products produced by Jiugui, which were bought in Beijing, were tested for three types of plasticizers at an independent lab, 21cbh.com reported on Monday.
The amount of plasticizer DBP in the company's products was 1.08 mg/kg, far exceeding the national standard of 0.3 mg/kg for food, the report said.
On Monday, the China Alcoholic Drinks Association said on its website that the country's liquor products do contain plasticizers, but the content is far below the standard limit set on such products overseas.
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