Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2012-12-27
A McDonald's outlet in Beijing. (Photo/CNS) |
McDonald's
has finally admitted that the company at the center of China's "instant
chicken" scandal was one of its suppliers, the state newswire Xinhua
reports.
The global
fast food chain had initially denied it did business with the Shandong-based
Liuhe Group, a major supplier to rival KFC, which was discovered to have used
excessive antibiotics and illegal hormones and chemicals to speed up the growth
of its broiler chickens.
Following
continued public and media scrutiny, however, McDonald's now says that Liuhe
was in fact one of its "second-tier" or "downstream"
suppliers, although it has stopped buying chicken from the company since Dec.
18 and samples of McDonald's products have subsequently been tested by the
Shanghai Food and Drug Administration.
McDonald's
had been reluctant to comment after the scandal first came to light, only
previously publishing a notice on its official Chinese microblog claiming that
all its chicken products had passed stringent quality controls and met
government standards after independent third-party laboratory testing.
A
McDonald's China spokesperson said that the restaurant chain was not directly
stocked by Liuhe and that quality controls of its second-tier suppliers are
carried out by its first-tier suppliers.
According
to Xinhua, second-tier suppliers provide the basic raw materials, while
first-tier suppliers process the raw materials into chicken products.
McDonald's does not deal directly with second-tier suppliers and relies on its
first-tier suppliers to enforce quality controls, the spokesperson added.
The world's
largest fast food chain added that it also conducts quality checks on every
batch of its chicken products but has so far not found excessive antibiotic
levels in Liuhe's chicken, while hormone levels are not tested as part of the
checks.
A
spokesperson from China's Ministry of Agriculture said on Tuesday morning that
the scandal is still under investigation but all suspect chicken farms and
processing plants have been shut down.
A KFC outlet in Shanghai. anim(Photo/Xinhua) |
KFC admits excessive antibiotics were used in its chicken
Liuhe exec admits drug sales make up large part of chicken trade
CCTV exposes drugged chickens at KFC and McDonald's supplier
'Instant chicken' scandal may force safer practices in China
Shanghai to punish persons responsible in KFC hormone scandal
KFC suspected of concealing results of food safety tests
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