A staff member serves beer for customers during the 30th Qingdao International Beer Festival in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, Aug. 16, 2020. The 17-day beer festival, hosting visitors with 1,500 kinds of beer from more than 40 countries and regions under intensified COVID-19 prevention and control measures, concluded on Sunday. (Xinhua/Li Ziheng)

Law enforcement authorities are conducting an investigation, Chinese leading beer maker Tsingtao Brewery Co announced on Monday before market opening, after a worker urination video went viral over the weekend which was allegedly shot in one of Tsingtao Brewery plants. The contaminated malt has been sealed.

A widely-distributed online video shows a male worker, dressed in a blue work uniform and wearing a safety helmet, apparently urinating in what appears to be a raw material storage area, allegedly at one of Tsingtao Brewery's factories. 

The video, which emerged on Thursday after trading hours, quickly went viral and became a top trending topic on China's social media platforms.

On Monday, Tsingtao Brewery saw a 6.77 percent drop in its opening stock price, which later closed down 1.17 percent at noon on Monday. 

The company has expressed deep concern over the incident, noting that it immediately reported the incident to police. "As of now, the company's production and operations remain normal," the company said.

Local police in Pingdu, East China's Shandong Province, on Monday revealed that it is currently conducting an investigation and will release a public statement shortly, according to media reports.

Pingdu's market supervisory authority on Friday issued a statement, saying that an investigative team was swiftly deployed to conduct an on-site probe. The entire batch of contaminated materials depicted in the video has been promptly sealed. If any wrongdoing is confirmed, the company is committed to taking legal and regulatory actions in a strict manner.

The location depicted in the video is not the rumored Qingdao Brewery raw material warehouse, but rather a transport vehicle carriage belonging to a logistics carrier, domestic news portal yicai.com reported, citing anonymous sources.

The individual involved in the video is not an employee of Tsingtao Brewery, but a contractor from an outsourced labor hiring firm. However, the motive behind the video recording remains unclear, the report said.

The report has not been confirmed by the company and the results of the official investigation have not yet been released as of press time.

Global Times