No burgers at some McDonald's in China

SHANGHAI - McDonald's outlets in Beijing and Shanghai have yanked their flagship burgers off the menu after a key US supplier recalled products made by its Shanghai factory, which is alleged to have used expired meat.

Authorities in Shanghai just over a week ago shut a plant owned by privately-held OSI Group for mixing out-of-date meat with fresh product and later detained five officials from the OSI subsidiary which operated it, Shanghai Husi Food Co.

The factory's customers in China included McDonald's, KFC, Pizza Hut, coffee chain Starbucks, Burger King, 7-Eleven convenience stores and Papa John's Pizza, according to the companies.

An operator from the McDonald's national delivery hotline said Monday that beef and chicken items were unavailable in the Shanghai area, though fish and pork could be ordered.

"We have stopped selling all products related to Husi for food safety. Products affected mainly used beef and chicken," he said.

At a McDonald's in central Beijing, counter staff told customers that the branch only had the Filet-O-Fish sandwich.

At every cash register, there were signs in both Chinese and English reading: "We regret to let you know that currently we will only be able to provide a limited menu at our restaurant."

It was unclear how wide the shortages are. By the end of April, McDonald's had more than 2,000 restaurants in China, according to its website.

McDonald's China could not be immediately reached for comment.

OSI Group, based in Aurora, Illinois, announced over the weekend that it was withdrawing all products made by the factory in Shanghai.

"We are compelled to withdraw all products manufactured by Shanghai Husi from the marketplace," OSI said in a statement dated Saturday.

The parent company was conducting an internal investigation and had installed a new management team in the wake of the incident, it said.

"Should any misconduct be uncovered, we will take swift and decisive action against those responsible, including all relevant disciplinary and/or legal measures," the statement said.

State media said last week that authorities had confirmed allegations aired by a Shanghai television station, that the factory used expired meat and mis-labelled products.

The "bad meat" scandal, as it has been called by Chinese media, has spread to Japan and Hong Kong -- a special administrative region of China.

McDonald's said Friday that its more than 3,000 restaurants in Japan had stopped selling products made with chicken from China, regardless of supplier. Japanese convenience store giant Family Mart stopped selling chicken sourced from the Shanghai plant.

In Hong Kong, McDonald's suspended sales of chicken nuggets and several other items including chicken burgers, salads and lemon tea after admitting it imported food from the problem factory.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Starbucks, Burger King dragged in as China food scandal spreads

McDonald's says some tainted meat used in McNuggets in Japan
SHANGHAI - A toxic food scandal in China is spreading fast, dragging in U.S. coffee chain Starbucks , Burger King Worldwide Inc and others, as well as products of McDonald's Corp as far away as Japan.

McDonald's and KFC's parent Yum Brands Inc apologized to Chinese customers on Monday after it emerged that Shanghai Husi Food Co Ltd, a unit of U.S.-based OSI Group LLC, had supplied expired meat to the two chains.

On Tuesday, Starbucks said some of its stores previously sold products containing chicken originally sourced from Shanghai Husi, a firm that was shut down on Sunday by local regulators after a TV report showed staff using expired meat and picking up meat from the floor to add to the mix.

McDonald's said meat from the supplier had been sold to its branches in Japan where it was used in the firm's McNuggets.

Fast-food chain Burger King and Dicos, China's third-ranked diner owned by Ting Hsin International, said they would remove Shanghai Husi food products from their outlets.

Pizza chain Papa John's International Inc said on its Weibo blog that it had taken down all meat products supplied by Shanghai Husi and cut ties with the supplier.

Food safety is one of the top issues for Chinese consumers after a scandal in 2008 where dairy products tainted with the industrial chemical melamine led to the deaths of six infants and made many thousands sick. Other food scandals have hit the meat and dairy industries in recent years, and many Chinese look to foreign brands as offering higher safety standards.

Starbucks said on its Chinese microblog site that it had no direct business relationship with Shanghai Husi, but that some of its chicken acquired from another supplier had originally come from Husi for its "Chicken Apple Sauce Panini" products. This had been sold in 13 different provinces and major cities.

Starbucks added that all the products had already been removed from the shelves.

TOXIC SPREAD

The scare has stirred local consumers and become one of the most discussed topics online by the country's influential 'netizens', with some users writing and spreading long lists of firms thought to be tarnished.

The incident highlights the difficulty in ensuring quality and safety along the supply chain in China. Wal-Mart Stores Inc came under the spotlight this year after a supplier's donkey meat product was found to contain fox meat. It also came under fire for selling expired duck meat in 2011.

Burger King said in a Weibo statement posted late on Monday that it had taken off its shelves all meat products supplied by Shanghai Husi Food and had launched an investigation.

Dicos said it pulled all ham products supplied by Shanghai Husi, and would stop serving its ham sandwich product for breakfast. "We will continue to carry out a probe into Shanghai Husi Food and its related firms, to understand whether or not it followed national regulations," Dicos said in a statement.

IKEA said on Weibo that Shanghai Husi had previously been a supplier, but had not provided the firm with products since September last year. Domino's Pizza Inc and Doctor's Associates Inc's Subway brand, which were named in online reports as being supplied meat from Shanghai Husi, said their outlets in China did not use meat products from the firm.

Yoshinoya-parent Hop Hing Group Holdings Ltd, Japanese convenience store FamilyMart Co Ltd and Chinese chain Wallace urged diners not to worry, and said they did not currently use any products from Shanghai Husi.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com