UpdateChina food scandal spreads to Japan as Burger King, Starbucks admit using tainted supplier
McDonald’s Japan spokesman says company sourced about a fifth of its Chicken McNuggets from Shanghai Husi and halted sales of the product on Monday
A toxic food scandal in China is spreading fast, dragging in US coffee chain Starbucks , Burger King and others, as well as McDonald’s products as far away as Japan.
McDonald’s and KFC’s parent Yum Brands apologised to Chinese customers on Monday after it emerged that Shanghai Husi Food Company, a unit of the US-based OSI Group, had supplied expired meat to the two chains.
On Tuesday, Starbucks said some of its cafes previously sold products containing chicken originally sourced from Shanghai Husi, a firm that was shut down on Sunday by local regulators after a television report showed staff using expired meat and picking up meat from the floor to add to the mix.
A Tokyo-based spokesman at McDonald’s Japan said the company had sourced about a fifth of its Chicken McNuggets from Shanghai Husi and had halted sales of the product on Monday. Alternative supplies of chicken have been found in Thailand and China, he added.
China’s food watchdog said it ordered regional offices to carry out spot checks on all firms which had used Shanghai Husi products, and would inspect all of parent OSI’s sites around China to see if enough has been done to ensure food safety. It said the case could be handed over to the police.
The regulator’s Shanghai branch said in a statement on Tuesday it had demanded production, quality control and sales records from OSI. It added it already ordered McDonald’s to seal over 4,500 boxes of suspected meat products and Yum’s Pizza Hut to seal over 500 boxes of beef.