BEIJING - Tongrentang Co, the largest producer of traditional Chinese medicine, Sunday apologized to the public following reports that one of its retail stores tricked foreigners into buying unnecessary and overpriced medicine.

The Nancheng Tianhui tourist medicine store, a franchised outlet of Tongrentang in Beijing, reportedly diagnosed foreign tourists brought in by tour guides and charged them high prices for medicine.

Tongrentang said in a statement that they apologized to consumers and the public for its loopholes in management as it said that the expensive medicine was not sold by Tongrentang but by Beijing Hanci Chinese Medicine Hospital, which is located inside the Tongrentang outlet.

Though, Tongrentang's stamp was on the invoice of the medicine sold by the hospital.

The outlet has been suspended and the hospital is under investigation, according to the city's drug administration.

The administration has ordered a six-month overhaul on the city's one-day tour business, in order to prevent vendors, tour guides from tricking tourists.

Tongrentang, a household name in China, was founded in 1669 and was once designated to provide medicines to the family of the emperor.