China's latest food scandal: What we've known 

Large restaurant chains pull more meat, vegetables from shelves

Authorities nationwide were busy sealing products in fast food restaurants on Tuesday after a major Shanghai supplier reportedly mixed expired meat into its products. >>>More

The China Food and Drug Administration said on Monday night that it had asked authorities across the country to check companies that use products from Shanghai Husi Food Co.

Shanghai has sealed about 100 metric tons of products made by the company, including fried chicken, steak, hamburger and pork, the city government said on Tuesday. The products have gone to nine companies including McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Burger King, Papa John's and Dicos. >>>More

Zhang Jian, an inspection official with the food and drug administration of Nanjing, Jiangsu province, said Pizza Hut and McDonald's in the city used products supplied by Shanghai Husi Food, and the local McDonald's stores have taken 18 kinds of products off the shelf and sealed them. The products ranged from hamburger, chicken and pork to tomato, lettuce, cucumber and onion.

An official in the Food and Drug Administration of Hefei, Anhui province, who declined to be identified, said that by 10 pm on Monday more than 1,070 bags of steak had been sealed in 13 Pizza Hut restaurants and 378 boxes of products, including meat and vegetables, had been sealed in 15 McDonald's outlets.

Hebei is sample testing 15 batches of products.

Guangdong province said on Tuesday that the Guangzhou logistics center of Yum! Brands - which owns KFC and Pizza Hut - has sealed more than 13,000 kilograms of processed meat.

The China Food and Drug Administration asked local authorities to do an "immediate and overall" inspection on Shanghai Husi Food's sister companies in China. Husi is owned by US-based OSI Group.

The group said on its website that it has set up companies to produce or process meat and vegetables in Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Yunnan, Guangdong and Fujian provinces.

Inspectors have tested all products kept in storage by two food companies owned by OSI in Weihai, Shandong province, and no violations were found, the Food and Drug Administration of Shandong said.

Hebei province also said it hasn't found any violations by a local food processor.

Scandal continues to spread

The latest food scandal in China is spreading fast, dragging in US coffee chain Starbucks, Burger King Worldwide and others, as well as McDonald's products as far away as Japan. >>>More

On Tuesday, Starbucks said some of its cafes previously sold products containing chicken from Shanghai Husi Food Co, which was suspected of using expired meat and was shut down on Sunday by local regulators.

A Tokyo-based spokesman for McDonald's said the company had sourced about a fifth of its Chicken McNuggets from Shanghai Husi Food, a subsidiary of US-based OSI Group, and had halted sales of the product on Monday. Alternative supplies of chicken have been found in Thailand and China, he added.

Fast food chain Dicos, China's third-ranked fast food chain, owned by Ting Hsin International, said it would remove Shanghai Husi Food products from their outlets.

"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.

Burger King and Papa John's International also said they have taken products from Shanghai Husi Food off their shelves and are investigating the matter.

Restaurants that have used products from Shanghai Husi Food Co Ltd 

A number of fast food restaurant chains are clients of food producer OSI's subsidiary in Shanghai, but food authorities had not released a list of the company's clients by Monday evening. Following are responses from some of the fast food restaurants in China that have been accused of using outdated food from the company.

McDonald's 

McDonald's said on Sunday night that it had informedall franchises in the country to stop using or selling the questionable products and keep all the meat from Shanghai Husi Food Co. They have organized a professional team to investigate the case and will release the results as soon as possible.

Burger King 

A few Burger King products have meat from the Shanghai Husi FoodCo and all of them have been removed, the company said.

KFC and Pizza Hut 

Yum! Brands, which manages KFC and Pizza Hut, said on Monday that it ordered all KFC and Pizza Hut franchises to stop using meat from Shanghai Husi Food Co and launched an investigation into OSI's subsidiary in Shanghai. It may lead to a shortage of two hamburgers sold at breakfast at some KFC outlets and a beefdish at Pizza Hut. Yum promised to resume supplies as soon as possible.

Starbucks 

Starbucks said on Monday that only one product used chicken provided by Shanghai Husi Food Co, adding that this product has been sold in only 12 provinces. All the outlets in these areas have stopped selling that product.

Dicos 

Dicos confirmed on Monday that it was supplied by Shanghai HusiFood Co, and said it has required all outlets to seal up all meatproduced by the company and stop selling one kind of breakfastsandwich. It also launched an investigation into OSI'ssubsidiary in Shanghai and related companies to guaranteefood safety.

Confidence in US fast food dented after meat scandal

Consumers' already-low confidence in food safety has been dented yet again after a Shanghai-based subsidiary of US food provider OSI Group was found to have sold expired and rotting meat to fast food giants, including McDonald's and KFC.

Workers at Shanghai Husi Food Co mixed "expired" meat with fresh and lied to inspectors from McDonald's, according to a report from the Shanghai-based Dragon TV after an undercover reporter spent two months as a worker in the factory, which processes meat and poultry products. Husi supplied many fast food restaurants in Shanghai. >>>More

Top chains may suffer a backlash that lingers

Leading fast food chains in China - McDonald's, KFC and Pizza Hut - are expected to suffer a lingering impact from recent media reports involving a food supplier allegedly using meat products past their expiration dates.

McDonald's and Yum! Brands, which owns KFC and Pizza Hut, quickly issued statements apologizing to consumers and halting the use of products from the supplier. >>>More

Food scandal exposes loopholes 

It is shocking to discover that Husi Food, a Shanghai distribution company supplying meat to international fast-food giants such as McDonald's and KFC, has long been using stale products.

An undercover investigation by reporters revealed that some ingredients seven months past their expiry date have been used. The investigation found other irregularities that go against the country's food safety laws.

The company allegedly tried to block investigation by officials of the Shanghai food and drug authority who were prevented from entering premises for an hour after arriving, arguably enough time for the company to destroy evidence and conceal problem food items. >> More 

New scare hits fast food chains

Shanghai has shut a food production factory for allegedly selling out-of-date meat to restaurant giants including McDonald's and KFC.

A Shanghai television channel, which first reported the allegations on Sunday night, said that workers at Shanghai Husi Food Co Ltd mixed expired meat with fresh product and deliberately misled quality inspectors from McDonald's. >>>More

Meat supplier of McDonald's, KFC suspended 

Shanghai food and drug administration has suspended the operation of a food company suspected of supplying stale meat to McDonald and KFC outlets.

Earlier on Sunday the administration had ordered that all meat products supplied by Shanghai Husi Food Co., Ltd should be taken off shelf for safety concerns.

Local media reported the company reprocessed meat products that had outlived their shelf life and supplied them to transnational fast-food chains including McDonald, KFC and Pizza Hut. >> More