McDonald’s Japan Investigating Suspect Nuggets From Cargill’s Thai Unit

Jakarta Globe, Kiyotaka Matsuda, Jan 07, 2015

Birds nest inside a McDonald's sign in Arundel Mills, Maryland March 8,
2013. (Reuters Photo/Gary Cameron)

McDonald’s Japan business and Cargill are investigating complaints objects were found in chicken nuggets made by a Cargill unit in Thailand, the restaurant chain’s second food-safety crisis in six months.

The affected nuggets, supplied by Cargill Meats Thailand, were sold at two outlets in Japan, including one in Tokyo, spokesman Takashi Hasegawa said.

“We have already begun an investigation into this matter,” Bruce Blakeman, vice president of corporate affairs for Cargill Asia Pacific, said in a statement.

Cargill, based in Minneapolis, will work closely with McDonald’s as its investigation progresses, he said.

McDonald’s Japan had switched sources of chicken nuggets to three Thailand factories, including two of Cargill’s, after a food supplier scandal in China hit McDonald’s restaurants in both countries last July, Hasegawa said.

The change came after Shanghai Husi Food, a unit of Illinois-based OSI Group, was featured in a local television report on July 20 that showed workers repackaging old meat and changing expiration dates.

The Japanese chain last year withdrew its forecast for first profit increase since 2011 and predicted a 17 billion yen ($142 million) net loss in 2014 after suspending sales of the chicken nuggets from China.

It was also forced to ration french fries last month after a labor dispute at US ports crimped supplies of potatoes.

Parent McDonald’s, the world’s largest restaurant chain based in Oak Brook, Illinois, on Dec. 8 posted its worst monthly US sales decline in more than a decade and said the China food scare took a toll on profit.

Bloomberg

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