Google – AFP, 26 February 2013
A woman
passes by a KFC outlet in Shanghai on January 9, 2013 (AFP/File,
Peter Parks)
|
SHANGHAI —
Fast food giant KFC has cut more than 1,000 farms from its supplier network in
China to ensure food safety after a scandal over tainted chicken hurt sales in
the key market last year.
The issue
came to light when China's commercial hub of Shanghai and the northern province
of Shanxi said in December that they were investigating KFC suppliers over
claims of high levels of antibiotics in chicken.
The food
scare caused a six percent fall in the China sales of KFC's parent Yum! Brands
in the fourth quarter last year, deeper than its previous estimate of a four
percent decline.
KFC will
stop using chicken farms that have potential risk, improve the screening
process of suppliers and step up self-inspections to address food safety
concerns, the company said in a statement late Monday.
"It
will always be our top priority to provide customers with the safest chicken
with the best quality," Yum China's chairman and chief executive, Sam Su,
said in the statement.
"We
have seen some safety problems from the incident... and we aim to address the
issue within the shortest time."
KFC also
pledged to enhance communication with the government and the public, after the
Chinese arm of Yum admitted last month that it failed to inform authorities
about tests showing high levels of antibiotics in chicken.
Yum was
aware of the issue through testing by a third-party in 2010 and 2011 but did
not report to the authorities, the Shanghai government said in December.
China has
seen several food safety incidents in recent years, including one of the
biggest in 2008, when the industrial chemical melamine was found in dairy
products which killed at least six babies and made 300,000 ill.
Related Article:
No comments:
Post a Comment