Employees from a Chinese decorating company were forced to eat live earthworms after they failed to reach their sales target.

The video, filmed in the city of Bijie in Guizhou Province on May 25, shows several workers being forced to swallow the live earthworms.

A man was heard asking: "It has parasites, has it?"

A woman replied: "Of course it has."

According to reports, the company used to punish their employees by forcing them to do squats or eat raw eggs but now they were forced to eat earthworms and loaches.

Although the company allowed the employees to pay 500yuan (£60) and buy breakfast for all workers to avoid eating the earthworms. Most people thought the cost was too high and chose to eat the earthworms.

The manager named Leng said: "We have both rewards and punishment, you cannot just take the rewards but do not accept the punishment right? No one was unhappy with our reward and penalty system when we set it up."

The employee who published the video was reportedly threatened by their company and has already called the police.

The video was provided by local media with permission.