Yoshinoya named in chicken feed scandal

The Beijing Animal Health Inspection Bureau said 23 restaurants and food companies in the city are suspected of selling chicken fed with too many antibiotics, including the popular fast-food chain Yoshinoya.

The bureau said the businesses are suspected of selling chicken which was purchased from a supplier at the heart of a chicken feed scandal - Liuhe Group Co. Ltd in Shandong Province.

The bureau has seized all suspected chicken from these restaurants and food companies for safekeeping, and collected samples on Friday for testing, said a notice on the bureau's website.

The Global Times called 10 Yoshinoya restaurants in Beijing Sunday. All said that dishes with chicken were still on sale.

When asked about media reports that some Yoshinoya restaurants have stopped offering chicken, an anonymous staff member in a Yoshinoya restaurant in Haidian district said, "That restaurant might just have temporarily sold out of chicken."

The staff member said she did not know the source of the chicken in their restaurant.

Li Bo, media officer of the bureau, told the Global Times Sunday that the results of the tests are still unknown.

Li said Yoshinoya might also have other sources for chicken besides Liuhe Group.

Calls to the Beijing Yoshinoya headquarters went unanswered Sunday. But the official Sina Weibo of Yoshinoya posted Sunday morning that Beijing Yoshinoya always has strict supervision over its purchase of raw material.

"To date, no chickens from Liuhe Group were used in restaurants of our company and our food is safe to eat," said the announcement.

Chickens from Liuhe Group are bred to mature in 45 days.

Nan Qingxian, former dean of the College of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering of China Agricultural University, told the Global Times that farmers are allowed to feed chicken certain kinds of antibiotics to help prevent some diseases, such as bird flu.

"These chickens grow up quickly and have poor physical condition, therefore, some farmers use antibiotics that are forbidden by the government for fear that the chicken would die before being sent to the slaughterhouse," said Nan.

"Antibodies form in the human body if people eat antibiotics. Long-term intake will lead to death," he said.