SHANGHAI: A scandal involving expired meat sold by a China unit of US food supplier OSI Group spread to Japan on Tuesday, as McDonald’s confirmed that the now shut factory provided Chicken McNuggets to its restaurants.

Shanghai authorities on Sunday shut an OSI plant — a supplier to McDonald’s and KFC in China — for mixing out-of-date meat with fresh product, re-labelling expired goods and other quality problems following an investigative report by a local television station.

A Tokyo-based spokesman for McDonald’s Japan told AFP the restaurant chain had sourced about 20 per cent of its McNuggets from the Shanghai factory, and had suspended sales of its product since Monday.

Around 500 of McDonald’s restaurants in Japan, a sixth of the total, had temporarily stopped selling McNuggets while the company obtained alternative supplies, he added.

Chinese police were questioning “several” employees of the OSI subsidiary, which is called Shanghai Husi Food Co., in the case, the Shanghai Daily newspaper said. Police could not be reached for comment.

Separately, the China Food and Drug Administration had ordered an investigation of OSI’s factories nationwide, according to a statement.

OSI’s Shanghai factory, set up in 1996, has more than 500 workers with five production lines for items including pork, beef and chicken, according to the group’s website.

OSI is a long-time supplier to McDonald’s in China, starting from 1992, it said.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd , 2014