Chinese authorities took action against a Shanghai-based food supplier after a video footage suggested that improper meat processing activities took place in one of its factories. China-based McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut are among the main customers of the company, named Shanghai Husi Food, who got public opinion’s attention after an undercover television footage showed some of its employees picking up food material from the floor or reprocessing apparently expired and even “rotten” meat. There is suspicion that the meat was subsequently re-labelled with false expiry dates and sold as such to some of the restaurant chains belonging to several famous fast-food brands available on the Chinese market. About 100 tons of Husi meat products were sealed up for the ongoing investigation.
Five people suspected by “illegal conduct” were arrested according to the Shanghai Public Security Bureau, and all Husi operations were stopped until investigations continue. The company, owned by Illinois-based OSI Group, has to face the consequences of such accusations, McDonald’s and Yum! Brands (operator of KFC and Pizza Hut facilities) already expressing their regret and declaring that any use of meat products from Husi has been stopped. Other companies like Burger King and Papa Johns vowed to stop using meat from Husi as well. According to another media source, McDonald’s will in fact continue to use Husi meat, but from another facility, located in Hebei, before “fully transitioning” to another one, based in Henan, unlike the other fast-food chains, who stopped any additional purchase from the suspected company. Swedish company IKEA declared that Husi stopped to supply any of its food products since August 2013.
Some sources reported that one of the company’s quality department managers confessed that such practices are not exceptional. They were actually done for years, with the “tacit approval of senior managers”. Inspections in other OSI factories in China found no similar irregularities yet. OSI owner Sheldon Lavin expressed in a statement his apologies in the name of the company and his disapproval regarding such acts, saying: “I will not try and defend it or explain it… It was terribly wrong, and I am appalled that it ever happened in the company that I own”.