Starbucks also hit by China meat scandal

BEIJING — The latest food scandal in China is spreading fast, engulfing American coffee chain Starbucks, Burger King and others, as well McDonald’s products as far away as Japan. The Chinese authorities said yesterday they have expanded their investigation of the meat supplier, Shanghai Husi Food.

A day after Husi’s food processing plant in Shanghai was sealed by the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA), the agency said yesterday that inspectors would also look at its facilities and meat sources in five provinces in central, eastern and southern China.

Chinese inspectors will also conduct “thorough spot checks” on restaurants that sourced meat from Husi to assess if they breached their responsibilities to ensure food safety, such as checking food purchases and accompanying certificates and invoices, the CFDA said. The regulator has already ordered McDonald’s to seal more than 4,500 boxes of suspected meat products and Yum’s Pizza Hut to seal more than 500 boxes of beef.

McDonald’s and KFC’s parent Yum Brands apologised to Chinese customers on Monday after a TV report on Sunday showed staff at Husi, a unit of United States-based OSI Group, repackaging and selling chicken and beef past the sell-by date and picking up meat from the floor to add to the mix.

Yesterday, Starbucks said it removed from its shelves the Chicken Apple Sauce Panini products made with chicken that originated at Husi. This had been sold in 13 different provinces and major cities.

McDonald’s Japan said the company had sourced about a fifth of its Chicken McNuggets from Husi and had halted sales of the product at more than 1,300 outlets. It said the Shanghai company had been supplying chicken to it since 2002.

Burger King said late on Monday that it stopped using hamburger it received from a supplier that used product from Husi and had launched an investigation.

Chinese fast-food restaurant chain Dicos said it pulled all ham products supplied by Husi and would stop serving its ham sandwich product for breakfast. Agencies