With China’s new Food Safety Law draft currently undergoing public consultation, a new food scandal involving McDonald’s and KFC was uncovered on July 20th. The revised draft of Food Safety Law focuses on the prevention of food issues as well as increasing civil liabilities for food safety violations. (See ChemLinked News 4 Jul 2014) The uncovering of this scandal is particularly timely given that the draft food law is still undergoing public consultation.
Husi Food, Shanghai was accused of selling expired chicken and beef to international fast food chains. The issue was exposed by a reporter from Dragon TV who took an undercover job in the plant for two months. The product processing was videotaped and broadcasted on television last weekend. The images were so disgusting that it left everyone in shock: slices of meat were picked off the dirty ground and thrown back on production line by workers; tons of expired chicken breast were falsified with new expiration dates and made into chicken nuggets; rotten beef was processed into burger patties.
Husi Food, a subsidiary of the Illinois based OSI Group, is a major meat supplier to a number of famous fast food brands in China, including McDonald’s, Starbucks, Burger King, Yum Brands, KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco bell. McDonald’s, KFC, Starbucks and Burger King took immediate action after the news broke and issued product recalls for all associated products. The usage of Husi products in McDonald’s Hong Kong chains was denied at first, but later with the spreading of photographic evidence taken by local consumers the fast food giant backtracked claiming that meat served in Hong Kong chains was from other Husi plants in China and that expired materials were confined to mainland China. Government authorities soon intervened closing the whole factory and holding all products pending further investigation by Shanghai FDA and local police.
Fingers have also been pointed at the international chains in question due to their overemphasis on reducing costs which has made it increasingly hard for suppliers to turn a profit. However the hardest questions have been leveled at government. The scandal has meant that management of China’s whole food supply chain has been brought into question. A succession of such scandals has undermined Chinese consumers’ confidence in food safety heightened by the fact that illegal food industry practices are usually uncovered by media rather than regulators. Government’s promises of instituting the most stringent food regulatory system ever are being severely undermined by such revelations and unless further incidents are prevented are unlikely to change public perception of China’s food industry.
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