Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba announced Tuesday that it has launched an investigation into products listed on its site by a gelatin manufacturer allegedly linked to the toxic capsules scandal.

According to the National Business Daily, Cangzhou Jinjian Gelatin Company in Hebei Province has been connected to Cangzhou Xueyang Gelatin Company, officially implicated in the capsule scandal, by an anonymous Weibo user.

This user revealed that Jinjian is run by Song Hexin, brother to Song Xunjie, Xueyang's manager, and Song Jiangxin, a local official in Fucheng county accused of involvement in a fire that destroyed evidence of industrial gelatin use.

"Jinjian only exhibits their products online without any transactions, and we have contacted the company for further investigation. We will publicize the result as soon as possible," Gu Jianbing, director of public relations at Alibaba, told the Global Times Tuesday.

After a search on Alibaba.com, the Global Times found 6,497 entries on gelatin products and 2,425 entries on empty capsules, including products from Jinjian.

Gu explained that, unlike Taobao.com, Alibaba.com is a business-to-business platform and therefore does not always result in sales.

The products forbidden for sale in the market have been removed from the website, but other gelatin products, as long as the enterprises provide related certificates, may still be sold online, Gu added.

Capsule products claiming to be pure and natural, made from foodstuffs or plants, gained popularity online soon after the scandal over chromium-tainted drugs broke. Experts warn that people should still be cautious when buying such capsules, including those made from sticky rice or wheat germ powder.

"The capsule is used to protect the drug potency, the esophagus and respiratory tract. However, we don't yet have a clear standard for verifying these supposedly 'natural' products," Hu Fulian, a professor from the Peking University First Hospital, said in an interview with the Global Times Tuesday.

Drug authorities at all levels were instructed Monday to strictly supervise the destruction of drug capsules made from toxic industrial gelatin, the Global Times confirmed with the National Food and Drug Administration.

According to the Henan-based Dahe Daily, large amounts of drug capsules were found in a roadside ditch in Zhengzhou, capital of the province, as local police intensified the crackdown.