China expands its probe over rotten meat scandal

A new food scandal has erupted in China, threatening to tarnish the reputations of McDonald's, KFC, Starbucks and Pizza Hut after the discovery of expired meat from their shelves, forcing Chinese authorities to seal more suspicious meat products in fast food chains.
Officials confiscated suspicious meat products in fast food chains, including McDonald's and KFC, after one of their suppliers was accused of selling stale meat, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Reports from Tokyo quoted McDonald's as saying that it had sourced about a fifth of its Chicken McNuggets from Shanghai Husi and had halted sales of the product.
It sourced alternative supplies of chicken from Thailand and China.

The raids by the officials came in after a local TV aired a news programme on Sunday alleging that Shanghai Husi Food Co., Ltd, a unit of OSI Group, had supplied products tainted with reprocessed stale meat to a string of fast food chains and restaurants across China.
The TV report prompted Shanghai authorities to suspend production at Shanghai Husi, a unit of US-based OSI Group, on Sunday, while cities and provinces across China yesterday moved to seal Husi supplies at local fast food chains.

The food and drug administration of Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, sealed 9.6 tonnes of Husi products at warehouses and outlets of McDonald's, KFC and Dicos, a Chinese chain owned by Taiwan's Ting Hsin International Group.

Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang Province, also sealed 1.77 tonnes of beef steaks and over 6 tonnes of chicken and pork products at KFC and Pizza Hut, both under Yum Brands, as well as McDonald's.
An investigation into a meat scandal expanded nationwide as China's top food quality watchdog launched a "thorough" probe, Xinhua reported.
China Food and Drug Administration asked local authorities to investigate all the food factories invested by US food supplier OSI Group in provinces of Hebei, Shandong, Henan, Guangdong and Yunnan.