Shanghai: The latest food scandal in China is spreading fast, dragging in US coffee chain Starbucks, Burger King Worldwide Inc and others, as well as McDonald’s products as far away as Japan.
McDonald’s Corp and KFC’s parent Yum Brands Inc apologised 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 cafes 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.
A Tokyo-based spokesman at McDonald’s Holdings Co (Japan) Ltd 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 spot checks on all firms which had used Shanghai Husi products, and would inspect all of parent OSI’s sites around the country.
