OSI apologizes for food scandal

KFC to stop using supplier, McDonald's to use firm's Henan unit

US meat processor OSI Group apologized Thursday for the recent food scandal that happened with its Shanghai unit and said that local authorities have inspected OSI's other Chinese facilities without finding other issues.

Sheldon Lavin, CEO of OSI Group, described the food scandal that happened with the group's Shanghai Husi Food Co as "unacceptable" and "terribly wrong" in a statement posted on OSI's website.

OSI will take all responsibility and ensure the "missteps" never happen again, OSI said in its statement.

The expired meat scandal was first reported by Shanghai-based Dragon TV on Sunday that claimed that Shanghai Husi had supplied products tainted with reprocessed expired meat to many fast food chains across China.

Shanghai Husi produced 5,108 crates of meat products including McNuggets, pork patties and beef steaks, using expired or moldy materials, said the Shanghai Municipal Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), which is investigating the case, in a statement on Tuesday.

The expired meat products were sold to well-known chains including McDonald's, KFC, Pizza Hut, Burger King, 7-Eleven and Dicos, according to the administration.

McDonald's said on its Sina Weibo account Thursday that it will stop cooperation with Shanghai Husi and turn to OSI's facilities in Central China's Henan Province.

McDonald's is reevaluating its supplier quality management system, and OSI's unit in Henan, which went into production in October 2013, has a state-of-the-art facility, a PR representative with McDonald's in China told the Global Times Thursday via e-mail.

McDonald's has its own procedures to choose suppliers and its own food processing models so it is hard to suddenly change to a completely new supplier, Pan Chenjun, a director at Rabobank Nederland Beijing Branch, told the Global Times Thursday.

The food industry has a long production chain and Husi's case showed that a single problem in any part of the chain can lead to food safety problems, therefore, the industry needs comprehensive and detailed management and supervision, she noted.

The China branch of Yum! Brands Inc, which owns KFC and Pizza Hut, said on its Sina Weibo account Wednesday that it is "shocked" that OSI, as an international enterprise, has illegal and dishonest behavior organized by inner management staff members in its branch.

Yum! China said it is "unacceptable" and it has stopped all purchases from OSI's China branches including Shanghai Husi.

Five people from Shanghai Husi, including a quality manager, have been detained, Shanghai police said on its website Wednesday.

The SFDA said in a statement Wednesday that it had inspected 581 food-related facilities suspected of using expired meat from Shanghai Husi, and sent 875 officers to carry out inspections by Wednesday.

The producers making food safety problems should be punished severely and be expelled from the food industry, Ma Wenfeng, an analyst with Beijing Orient Agribusiness Consultant, told the Global Times Thursday.

Ma said that the main reason that food safety scandals often happen in China is that food producers involved in scandals can often register new enterprises in other places and then run food businesses again.

On Sina Weibo, a user with the handle of "previous Husi's employee," said he had exposed Shanghai Husi's supplying expired meat to famous fast food chain stores back in 2013, but his posts did not attract much public attention at that time.

The unidentified person implied on his Weibo account Thursday that Shanghai Husi might have started using expired meat material before 2013 when he exposed it on the Internet.

Hong Kong has suspended all imports from all of OSI's Husi branches in the Chinese mainland since Thursday and products that have already been imported will be sealed up, news portal 163.com reported Thursday.