McDonald's Corp. announced that it suspended the sale of its chicken nuggets and other food items in Hong Kong after the company admitted it imported Shanghai Husi Food products, which are at the center of a current food safety concern in China.
McDonald's issued a statement on Thursday saying that certain Shanghai Husi products were imported from July 2013 to June of this year but no items from the supplier is currently in stock. Customers from Tokyo to Shanghai have revealed that chicken nuggets, hamburgers and other food items from the world's largest food chains including McDonald's, KFC and Pizza Hut contained spoiled meat.
The meat reportedly came from an OSI Group Chinese unit, one of the largest global food processor headquartered in Aurora, Illinois. Shanghai Husi Food Co. is the unit and it was featured in a Chinese TV report on July 20 showing workers repackaging aged meat and changing the expiration dates before it shipped to retailers. Municipal authorities detained five people in relation to an investigation to the supplier.
McDonald's confirmed that it suspended relevant food ingredients at its outlets in Hong Kong after the Shanghai Husi Food Co. scandal. These food safety scares explode every several months in China since some toxic milk sickened 300,000 and killed six babies six year ago and these scares involve local suppliers. There are recent claims that involve a foreign company that sells to retailers in the United States and Japan and it suggests that the food chain issues in China have problems deeper than thought.
"I don't think there's any food in China that is safe," 30-year-old Shanghai resident Yang Xue said. "Even if you choose others, the same problem will occur again. The government should take responsibility because of their lack of supervision."
OSI Chief Executive and Chairman Sheldon Lavin apologized for its "completely unacceptable" errors and assured it would not happen again. Hong Kong prohibited food importation from Husi plants in mainland China. Hong Kong Center for Food Safety reported that McDonald's imported frozen pork products and cooked chicken legs from Husi. China seeks to improve its food safety in the country by raising penalties, adding information on food safety scrutiny and increasing compensation for consumers.
