KFC And McDonald’s Stop Buying Expired Meat From Supplier And Investigations Begin
KFC and McDonald’s purchased expired meat, including beef, pork, and chicken, from a supplier that allegedly put new expiration dates on the packages.
On Monday, a Shanghai television station claimed that Husi Food Co., Ltd. sold KFC, McDonald’s, and Pizza Hut restaurants in China packages of expired meat. According to The Star, KFC, McDonald’s, and Pizza Hut immediately stopped using the expired meat and launched their own investigations into the matter.
The Shanghai office of China’s food and drug agency will also investigate the expired meat incident along with police and advised customers of Husi Food to stop using the supplier’s products.
“At present, the company has been sealed and suspect products seized,” the agency reported on its website.
A McDonald’s microblog account stated, “Food safety is a top priority for McDonald’s.” It also said that the company follows “strict compliance” with consumer safety laws and regulations and will not tolerate “illegal behavior.”
Other companies are concerned that they may have purchased and used expired meat from Husi. Dicos, a sandwich shop chain, said that it stopped serving sausage patties that originated with Husi.
Yum! Brands, the owner of KFC and Pizza Hut, and McDonald’s have over 6,200 Chinese stores, according to Time. They were duped into buying the expired meat because the meat company’s employees repackaged the meat and put new expiration dates on the packages. Many expiration dates were extended another year, and KFC, McDonald’s, and other companies believed they were using fresh meat.
McDonald’s handed over 4,500 cases of expired meat and other products from Husi to investigators, and Pizza Hut turned in 500 cases of seasoned beef. It is unknown how many cases of expired meat were used and sold to consumers all over China.
Yum! Brands already faced scrutiny last year when a television agency alleged that KFC sold chicken that was pumped full of antibiotics. KFC was in the process of rebounding after assurances of food safety and improvements in its supply chain and planned to open 700 more KFC restaurants this year.
Husi has not commented about the expired meat incident involving KFC and McDonald’s, but the official Xinhua News Agency claimed that a company manager made a statement saying that Husi has a strict system of quality control and will be fully cooperative throughout the investigations.
Han Zhang, the Communist Party secretary of Shanghai, asked for “severe punishment” for Husi’s involvement in the expired meat that was supplied to KFC, McDonald’s, and other restaurants.
[Image via Time]
