Beijing Supermarket Staff Photographed "Tampering With Pill Bottles"

[UPDATE: Dec 28, 11.30am] Yesterday, BHG reached out to us to explain what was going on in the photo that our witness supplied, and it seems like a reasonable explanation for what appeared to be staff tampering with vitamin supplements.  

BHG communicated: "This health food was off the shelf a year ago, and on that day our shop assistant cleaned up the stock and got rid of the expired merchandise. Labels were not being removed or changed. Our company takes pride in our reputation of providing the best quality product. I hope this clears up any misunderstanding about how our staff handles expired product. This time our employees cleaned up three different kinds of health food: capsules, protein powder, and enzymes. The capsules were first poured into the box and centralized. Protein powder and enzymes are poured out directly. What he (the concerned witness) could see was that the employees were pouring capsules from bottles into boxes. Next, the capsules were destroyed."

Beijingkids has received evidence apparently showing staff from a high-end city supermarket tampering with what appears to be edible food products, supplements, or vitamins.

The picture was taken two weeks ago in the car park of the Shunyi branch of BHG, a Beijing-based supermarket chain, by a local parent who has asked to remain anonymous.

He told us:“As I arrived at the underground parking to get back to my car there were three people dressed in BHG uniforms squatting on the floor opening and repackaging vitamin containers. I stopped for a second and took the photo.”

It’s not possible to tell from the photograph precisely what is taking place. The boxes bear the logo of NBTY, a health supplement company which owns the trademark "Nature's Bounty". This would support our source's claim that the containers held vitamin pills, and the uniforms worn are identical to BHG uniforms.

However, on a visit to the store, we were unable to find any products on sale which resembled the containers in the photograph. At least one of the staff members is wearing gloves, but they are operating in clearly unsanitary conditions.

Whatever the purpose of this activity, given the numerous food scandals in China over the last few years, to have staff sitting in a dirty car park, next to the toilet, opening and resealing bottles of substances intended for human consumption, would seem to be a dubious practice at best.

Our source tells us that he emailed BHG’s headquarters about this issue immediately after the incident, but has received no response. We have also approached BHG for comment. There was no answer on their publicly listed number, and we have not yet received any response to our email inquiry.

We will update this story as and when we hear from them.

Photos: news.everychina.com, anonymous source