Chinese distilleries added Viagra to alcohol for 'health-preserving qualities'

Talk about hard liquor.

Chinese distilleries added Viagra to alcohol for 'health-preserving qualities'

Two Chinese distilleries are under investigation after it was discovered they added Viagra to spirits and sold them to customers claiming the drinks had "health-preserving qualities," the BBC reports.

Chinese authorities seized more than 5,300 bottles of alcohol as well as packets of Sildenafil — another name for anti-impotence drug Viagra — in the city of Liuzhou.

According to Lizhou's Food and Drug Administration (link translated from Chinese), an inspection found Sildenafil, Tadalafil (sold under the name Cialis, also an anti-impotence drug) as well as other "prohibited substances" in three brands of baijiu liquor — a strong, distilled spirit that's popular in China. The value of the seized goods is approximately 700,000 yuan or $113,000.

Under China's law, the distilleries' owners may be charged with selling poisonous and harmful food.

Food safety remains a big concern in China; in 2008, milk tainted with poisonous chemical melamine caused deaths of at least six infants. In July 2015, Chinese authorities discovered 100,000 tons of smuggled frozen meat, some of it decades old.

Source: Chinese distilleries added Viagra to alcohol for 'health-preserving qualities' (http://mashable.com/2015/08/03/chinese-distilleries-viagra-alcohol/)