Wahaha blamed stores for maggots in 营养快线 — a food-safety stain it could not set down

On 4 July 2025, a consumer in Qujing, Yunnan bought a bottle of Wahaha's 营养快线 at a supermarket, poured three cups for his children and found a bug in one cup and two on the cap. Back at the store, a fresh bottle also had bugs at the mouth. The owner called the manufacturer; the factory's salesperson opened another drink on the spot and it too had bugs, and a Wahaha distributor opened four bottles and confirmed maggots at the bottle mouth.

Wahaha's answer came on 8 July via a representative: living creatures were impossible after high-temperature sterilization, technicians had preliminarily judged the merchant's storage conditions at fault, bugs were also found on other brands at the scene, and insects could crawl in through the threaded cap. The company said it was awaiting the regulator's follow-up test report.

The regulator was already in the story. On 9 July the Qujing Market Supervision Bureau told 南方都市报 it was aware of the matter and would publish an official notice on the investigation. The consumer and the merchant reached a settlement, and the bureau said the matter had been handled.

The incident was not Wahaha's first food-safety question. In March 2024 a consumer reported a cockroach-like object in an unopened 营养快线, and in May 2025 Wahaha ended its OEM relationship with 今麦郎 after some purified-water batches failed sampling tests. To a public reading those as a pattern, a denial on the maggots landed on ground already prepared to distrust.