Experts are reminding people to hold on to evidence that could benefit their cases by citing the death of a 10-year-old boy in August 2001 as an example of what can go wrong, Shanghai Morning Post reports.

Qiangqiang, the son of a resident surnamed Yin who lived in the suburbs of Shanghai, died after eating dishes his parents cooked with salt he bought from a nearby store.

The family got rid of the salt after they sensed there was something wrong with it, unaware of the importance of keeping the evidence until the case was resolved.

A police examination of a little of the leftover salt found that it contained nitrous acid. The family sued the owner of the store from which they normally bought their salt.

But a further investigation only revealed that the salt the store sold was meant for industrial use and did not contain nitrous acid, which caused Qiangqiang's death.

The family lost the lawsuit as they could not present sufficient evidence that Qiangqiang had in fact purchased the salt from the store.

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