MOSCOW, July 21 (RIA Novosti) – American fast-food chains McDonalds, KFC and Pizza Hut have suspended orders from a Shanghai-based supplier Husi Food Company after it was found that the company was using rotten meat, South China Morning Post reported.
"Food safety is the most important thing for McDonald's, and we always strictly abide by national laws and regulations and related standards to ensure consumers can enjoy our products at ease," McDonald's said, in a statement issued on Chinese microblogging website Weibo.
Shanghai Husi Food is the Chinese branch of privately held US-based food supplier OSI Group.
According to South China Morning Post, Yum – KFC and Pizza Hut are owned by US-based Yum Brands corporation – said that its “sausage and egg burger” and “spicy roaster burger” were affected, but McDonald’s did not specify which products were spoilt. Both companies said that their restaurants in China would now face a shortage of certain products.
The report, produced by a Dragon TV reporter who secretly filmed the food processing facility, included an email where company managers asked employees to extend the expiry date of 10 tons of already green and odorous frozen beef.
Fast-food chains have already started an investigation into the OSI unit. According to the Xinhua news agency, an OSI official said the company is cooperating with authorities in the investigation.
The Shanghai-based Husi factory processes more than 25,000 tons of food annually, according to its own figures.
Yum already faced strong criticism in China back in 2012, when China Central Television reported the company’s chickens were fed with unapproved antibiotic drugs and growth hormones.
