SHANGHAI: Chinese police on Wednesday detained five people from a unit of US food supplier OSI Group, a statement said, in a case involving expired meat sold to fast food giants including McDonald’s and KFC.

The Shanghai Public Security Bureau said the five included the company officials responsible. It said a quality manager was among them but did not name the five.

Shanghai authorities on Sunday shut an OSI plant for mixing out-of-date meat with fresh product, re-labelling expired goods and other quality problems, following an investigative report by a local television station.

Police acting “according to the law” detained the five from the Shanghai Husi Food Co., the statement said, referring to the OSI subsidiary which operated the factory.

The case has sparked calls for stronger regulation in a country which has seen repeated scandals over food and product safety.—AFP

Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2014