Eight COVID-19 confirmed cases were reported in PepsiCo Beijing's chips branch, which caused the company to suspend operations there and triggered wide concerns over the safety of Pepsi products, with experts warning the public over novel coronavirus contamination.
Two of the eight patients had made purchases at the Xinfadi Market, where the latest outbreak in the city emerged.
When an employee in the company that mainly produces Lay's chips was confirmed to be infected on June 15, PepsiCo immediately suspended production, all stocks were sealed off and outbound transportation was prohibited, said Fan Zhimin, from the publicity department of PepsiCo in China, at the Beijing government's anti-epidemic press conference on Sunday.
Fan said the company will follow the rules to ensure food safety.
PepsiCo beverage factories across the country, including its Beijing branch, did not find any coronavirus cases.
Beyond the branch in southern Beijing's Daxing district, Pepsi has chips companies in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei Province and Shanghai in the Chinese mainland.
After the Beijing municipal government and PepsiCo released the information on Sunday, Chinese consumers swarmed to online platforms to express their concerns over Pepsi products, mostly Pepsi's cola and chips. Some also recalled the most recent time they had consumed these products and considered having nucleic acid tests.
Feeling panic so much, some consumers planned to throw their Pepsi away in fear of food contamination and some decided to purchase rival brands.
An insider from Beijing's food and drug regulator department said that the agency had not been told to remove the chips from store shelves as of press time.
Whether the Pepsi products were contaminated is still unknown and the company did not reveal which sections those eight infected employees worked in.
Eight COVID-19 confirmed cases were reported in PepsiCo Beijing's chips branch, which caused the company to suspend operations there and triggered wide concerns over the safety of Pepsi products, with experts warning the public over novel coronavirus contamination.
PepsiCo beverage factories across the country, including its Beijing branch, did not find any coronavirus cases.
