CCTV exposes drugged chickens at KFC and McDonald's supplier

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2012-12-20

A KFC outlet in Shanghai. (Photo/Xinhua)

In yet another fast-food safety scandal in China, state broadcaster CCTV has reported that a key supplier to McDonald's and KFC in the country illegally adds up to 18 kinds of antibiotics to its poultry feed, according to the Shanghai-based First Financial Daily.

The Dec. 18 report alleged that the Shandong-based Liuhe Group uses banned chemicals including dexamethasone, an anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressant steroid, to accelerate livestock growth, and has been able to get away with it due to the lack of testing conducted by Yum! Brands, the parent company of KFC.

Both McDonald's and KFC issued a statement in response to the CCTV report, saying that they have strict control over their supply chains, the newspaper said.

KFC further said that it had already stopped buying poultry from Liuhe, while McDonald's was unable to confirm whether the Shandong-based group was still one of its suppliers.

Meanwhile, local regulators have reportedly ordered a Liuhe branch in the Shandong city of Pingdu, which was allegedly involved in the violations reported by CCTV, to suspend all operations for inspection.

Two officials at the branch admitted that the drugs used on the poultry were not supervised and no testing of banned drugs was performed on the premises.

The two fast food chains are already in the thick of what has been termed "Chickengate" after similar attempts to swiftly fatten up their poultry were exposed at another major supplier, Tengzhou-based Wintop Food, the newspaper said.

Tan Changchun, a marketing expert with China Stone Management Consulting Group, said the rapid expansion of KFC in China might have led to the chain overlooking the dubious quality control standards of its suppliers.

In the last two years, KFC has seen the number of its restaurants in China rise from 3,000 to 4,000. It took the chain 17 years to open its first 1,000 stores in China, and another six to top the 3,000 mark.

This latest incident, Tan said, is another indication of the problems existing in KFC's internal control system.

A chicken farm in Nanchang, Jiangxi province. (File photo/Xinhua)

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