No more Big Macs in Beijing and Shanghai

McDonald’s restaurants in Shanghai have stopped selling beef and chicken after a tainted meat scandal at one of the city’s plants. Johannes Eisele / AFP

McDonald’s outlets in Beijing and Shanghai have yanked their flagship burgers off the menu after a key US supplier recalled products made by its Shanghai factory, which is alleged to have used expired meat.

At a McDonald’s in central Beijing, counter staff told customers that the branch only had the Filet-O-Fish sandwich.

At every cash register, there were signs in both Chinese and English reading: “We regret to let you know that currently we will only be able to provide a limited menu at our restaurant”.

It was unclear how wide the Big Mac shortages were.

McDonald’s China could not be immediately reached for comment.

An operator from the McDonald’s national delivery hotline said yesterday that beef and chicken items were unavailable in the Shanghai area, though fish and pork could be ordered.

“We have stopped selling all products related to Husi for food safety. Products affected mainly used beef and chicken,” he said.

On July 20, authorities in Shanghai shut a plant owned by privately held OSI Group for mixing out-of-date meat with fresh product and later detained five officials from the OSI subsidiary that operated it, Shanghai Husi Food.

The factory’s customers in China included McDonald’s, KFC, Pizza Hut, Starbucks, Burger King, 7-Eleven convenience stores and Papa John’s Pizza, according to the companies.

OSI Group, based in the United States, announced on Saturday that it was withdrawing all products made by the factory in Shanghai. The parent company said it was conducting an internal investigation and had installed a new management team in the wake of the incident.

“Should any misconduct be uncovered, we will take swift and decisive action against those responsible, including all relevant disciplinary and/or legal measures,” the company said.

The bad meat scandal, as it has been called by Chinese media, has spread to Japan and Hong Kong. The scandal erupted when a Dragon TV report showed Shanghai Husi workers picking up meat from a factory floor, as well as mixing fresh meat with meat beyond its expiration date.

On Friday, McDonald’s said that its more than 3,000 restaurants in Japan had stopped selling products made with chicken from China, regardless of supplier. The Japanese convenience store chain Family Mart stopped selling chicken sourced from the Shanghai plant.

In Hong Kong, McDonald’s suspended sales of chicken nuggets and several other items including chicken burgers, salads and lemon tea after admitting it imported food from the problem factory.

For last year, McDonald’s said, the Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa region accounted for US$6.47 billion in sales, or 23.0 per cent of the worldwide total of $28.1bn. McDonald’s did not break out sales results for China, but it did say that 1,957 of its 35,429 restaurants are in the country.

In the wake of the meat scandal, McDonald’s shares fell 3.3 per cent in New York last week. (The company also released second-quarter results last week, which showed a small dip in profit.)

* AFP, with additional reporting by Bloomberg News

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