A Chinese pharmacy sells Viagra in Beijing in February. Police are investigating two distillers in the southern city of Liuzhou that they say added Viagra as an ingredient in a popular Chinese alcoholic beverage, promising the drinks would deliver "health-preserving qualities." File Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI | License Photo

LIUZHOU, China, Aug. 2 (UPI) -- Officials in southern China say they have seized thousands of bottles of alcohol that had Viagra added as an ingredient.

The accused distillers were mixing the drug into a popular Chinese alcoholic beverage known as "baijiu," or "shaojiu," and promising the drinks would provide "health-preserving qualities," the BBC quoted the Liuzhou Food and Drug Administration as saying.


Authorities in Liuzhou say they confiscated more than 5,300 bottles of the tampered beverages, as well as packets of a white powder called Sildenafil, a drug that combats erectile dysfunction and is sold as "Viagra" and other trade names. The seizure was valued at about $113,000.

Police are investigating the two distillers, who ran the Guikun and Deshun Alcohol Plants in Liuzhou.

Issues with China's food and drug safety were recently highlighted when authorities in Hunan province confiscated 800 tons of 40-year-old meat and poultry that had been smuggled from Vietnam. The find was part a nationwide crackdown that spanned 14 provinces, netting caches valued collectively at more than $480 million.