COVID-19 Latest
World|life|July 23, 2014 / 04:09 PM
China food scandal: 100 tons of stale meat found at Shanghai Husi, 5 employees detained

AKIPRESS.COM - Shanghai's Food and Drug Administration said it seized more than 5,000 boxes of expired meat from warehouses of Shanghai Husi Food after a raid, following allegations that the firm supplied stale meat to food companies including McDonald's and Yum's KFC.

China's CCTV reported on its website that around 100 tonnes of the expired produce has been sealed by the authority, which will be examined as part of an ongoing investigation.

Shanghai police had already detained five people employed at Shanghai Husi, including its quality manager, in connection with a probe into the company.

Meanwhile, an official said the activity was an organised effort by the supplier.

"We found that some of the illegal conduct was not that of certain individuals but was an arrangement organized by the company," Gu Zhenghua, deputy director of the Food and Drug Administration's Shanghai bureau, told the official Xinhua News Agency.

Nine companies including KFC, McDonald's, Burger King and Papa John's have used products ranging from beef, chicken and pork, from the Shanghai Husi. Following the outbreak of the scandal, the companies apologised to Chinese customers and said they are taking the concerned products off shelves.

On 21 July, operations at the Shanghai Husi were suspended and all of its meat products were ordered to be taken off the shelves. Shanghai Husi Food is the Chinese branch of privately held US-based food supplier OSI Group LLC.

Chinese local media earlier reported that Shanghai Husi Food sold chicken and beef past their expiry date to international food chains including McDonald's, KFC and Pizza Hut. KFC and Pizza Hut are owned by US-based Yum Brands.

Undercover reporters found Husi Food workers reprocessing and repackaging meat products whose due date had already expired.

Food safety has been a serious issue in China ever since the 2008 milk scandal when infants fell ill or died after consuming tainted milk powder.

All rights reserved

© AKIpress News Agency - 2001-2024.

Republication of any material is prohibited without a written agreement with AKIpress News Agency.

Any citation must be accompanied by a hyperlink to akipress.com.

Our address:

299/5 Chingiz Aitmatov Prosp., Bishkek, the Kyrgyz Republic

e-mail: english@akipress.org, akipressenglish@gmail.com;

Follow us:

Log in


Forgot your password? - recover

Not registered yet? - sign-up

Sign-up

I have an account - log in

Password recovery

I have an account - log in