McDonald's in Hong Kong, Japan nix China chicken
McDonald's in Japan will stop selling chicken products produced in China and its restaurants in Hong Kong have taken chicken nuggets and chicken burgers off the menu after a Chinese supplier was accused of selling expired chicken.
McDonald's Holdings in Japan made its announcement Friday, saying it will instead use chicken made in Thailand. Late Thursday, the fast food chain said it has suspended relevant food ingredients" at Hong Kong outlets in light of the scandal surrounding Shanghai Husi Food Co.
The Hong Kong government this week banned any food products from Husi China, which affected McDonald's and other restaurant companies. McDonald's spokesperson Becca Hary says its Hong Kong restaurants sourced produce, small percentages of chicken wings and chicken McNuggets, and sliced beef from Husi, so menu items made with these ingredients were affected.
McDonald's warned there may be a chicken shortage in its Japanese restaurants while the company moves to Thai sourcing.
"We have been listening to our Japanese customers and they have clearly told us that they were not confident in chicken products from Chinese-based suppliers," said Sarah Casanova, CEO of McDonald's Japan. "Our goal is to provide our customers great-tasting, safe and high-quality food."
The Chinese government closed the Husi Shanghai plant in light of alleged food safety issues and McDonald's says it "immediately stopping serving food from this facility."
Chinese authorities have inspected Husi's other facilities, which the company says allows it to confidently serve customers. It is transitioning sourcing for the affected markets in China to Husi's new "state-of-the-art facility" in Henan. While this migration takes place, McDonald's will continue to source some product from the Husi Hebei facility.
McDonald's Chinese supplier, OSI Group, is sending its "top food safety experts" to China to provide expertise on operations, McDonald's says.
Chinese authorities detained five Husi employees after a TV station reported last weekend that the company repackaged and sold meat past its use-by date. Investigators seized hundreds of tons of material, but haven't yet confirmed whether they found expired meat.
Husi couldn't be reached for comment Friday.
The government of the semiautonomous Chinese territory said that imports of Husi products would be suspended as the investigation on the mainland continued and local food safety inspectors carried out their own tests.
McDonald's Corp. restaurants in mainland China had already withdrawn products made with Husi products. KFC and Pizza Hut, which are owned by Yum Brands Inc., pizza chain Papa John's International Inc., Starbucks Corp., Burger King Corp. and Taiwan sandwich chain Dicos have also done so.
Contributing: Associated Press