McDonald’s accused of a lack of cooperation

http://www.chinadailyasia.com/hknews/2014-07/29/content_15152745.html

By Timothy Chui in Hong Kong

The city’s food chiefs have accused McDonald’s of not entirely cooperating with a probe launched in the wake of revelations that the global fast food giant allegedly sold adulterated meat in Hong Kong.

Under-Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee said she hoped representatives from McDonald’s would meet the Centre for Food Safety (CFS) soon to discuss the issue.

The US corporation had originally said none of the food it sold in Hong Kong contained food sourced from the suspect plant. However, the CFS established that some cooked chicken imported by McDonald’s had come from US-owned Shanghai Husi Food — the plant at the center of the tainted food scandal.

McDonald’s representatives did not appear at a meeting called last Wednesday. The company also declined to participate in a joint CFS-Legislative Council meeting on Monday. It has only discussed the matter via teleconference, Chan revealed on Monday.

Chan said McDonald’s did provide import records going back two years and originally declared, late last week, that none of its stock was from Shanghai Husi Food. But it retracted this a few days later, admitting to having sourced cooked chicken from the company.

Helena Wong Pik-wan, Chairwoman of the Legislative Council Panel on Food Safety and Environmental Hygiene, said McDonald’s representatives were also absent from Monday’s meetings on the food safety scandal.

The scandal has since led to a global recall and resulted in staple items being taken off the fast-food chain’s menus.

Helena Wong reiterated calls for a tightening of the rules on imported cooked foods. She added that the panel would reconvene in October to discuss further action.

Sophia Chan confirmed that all local stock imported from Shanghai Husi Foods had already been consumed. She said the government remained open to suggestions on ways to improve inspections of cooked food.

Senior staff from Shanghai Husi’s parent company, OSI Group, arrived in Shanghai to investigate allegations its subsidiary reprocessed and sold meat passed its use by date.

OSI has ordered a blanket recall of all products sourced from Shanghai Husi. It said it would assume management of all Husi operations in China to bring them in line with international standards.

McDonald’s issued a second apology over the weekend for “a lack of clarity” over the extent of the meat scandal in its operations in Hong Kong.

McDonald’s Hong Kong Managing Director Randy Lai Wai-sze admitted the company had not properly conveyed information about the quantity of tainted meat sourced from Shanghai Husi Food.

Lai said she was prepared to apologize for any public confusion or anxiety. But she did not respond to questions about whether there had been a cover up. Nor did she answer questions from reporters in a Sunday press conference.

Helena Wong criticized Lai’s statement — saying there was room for improvement. Wong also criticized her for not answering some questions at the press conference.

This comes days after a CFS probe was launched to find out whether McDonald’s had continued to sell Shanghai Husi products after the possible contamination became known.

Randy Lai pledged that foodstuffs from the Shanghai plant — which included vegetables — would no longer be used.