CHINA TOPIX

04/25/2024 04:41:31 am

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Japan To Buy Meat from Thailand in midst of China Spoiled Meat Scandal

Japan's fast food industry announced its solution to China's spoiled meat scandal Friday, after halting imports of expired chicken supplies from Shanghai.

USA Today reports that Japanese fastfood restaurant chains, McDonalds at least, will start sourcing meat from Thailand.

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McDonald's Holdings Co. (Japan) will halt all imports of chicken products from China, and shift that business to Thailand. This would boost purchases from existing suppliers McKey Foods Services (Thailand) Ltd, a unit of Keystone Foods, and Cargill Thailand.  

The meat scandal first aired Sunday when Dragon TV reported that the Shanghai Husi factory had sent reprocessed expired meat to fast-food restaurants in China, according to CCTV. Husi is a company of the Aurora, Ill.-based OSI Group.

Since then, Hong Kong and Japan have been wary, and even temporarily stopped serving chicken products in fast food restaurants. Husi was shut down by the Chinese government.

Shanghai Husi supplied KFC, McDonalds, Starbucks and Burger King, as well as a convenience store chain in Japan, according to BBC.

China said Thursday it will resume its meat supply from another Husi factory, in Henan, CCTV reports. The CEO of OSI said the facility was newer and had state-of-the-art equipment.

This is just one of the latest food scandals in China in the past decade - following a toxic dairy scare in 2008 and food safety issues in 2012 - which has made consumers wary about the food products.

"I don't think there's any food in China that is safe," Yang Xue, 30, an office worker from Shanghai, told Bloomberg. "Even if you choose others, the same problem will occur again. The government should take responsibility because of their lack of supervision."

The sentiment was echoed by Sebastien Breteau, CEO of Asia Inspection, which helps run food-quality checks in China.

"Most foreign-owned firms in China will have well-developed food-safety precaution measures, but they are still dealing with local staff," Breteau told Bloomberg. "In Asia, the food manufacturing industry is less mature and has had less time to develop an emphasis on quality control, which requires time and education."

And it has taken a toll on the local suppliers, even if they are foreign-owned, making foreign brands more appealing to residents.

Following the dairy scare, baby formula imports increased and the top three brands used in China in 2013 were foreign.

The investigations continue into the Shanghai scandal, and has resulted in the arrest of five Shanghai Husi employees.

Zhang Hui, manager of Husi's quality department, confessed during investigations that the company has been engaging in the malpractice for years under tacit approval of senior managers, according to CCTV.

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