According to a China Central Television news program on December 18, several poultry suppliers in Shandong Province were found to be accelerating the growth of chickens by using harmful chemicals in their feed. One, the Liuhe Group, was supplying chicken to Yum Brands.
Batches of the "instant chicken" were transported from a slaughterhouse to the Shanghai logistics center of Yum Brands, according to the program.
Yum Brands was later found by Shanghai food safety officials to have known about excessive antibiotics in the chicken from Liuhe but didn't report it and continued to buy the tainted chicken.
Yum signed a contract with a government institute, the Shanghai Institute for Food and Drug Control, in August 2005 to serve as a third-party inspection body to test the quality of raw produce from suppliers.
A Shanghai food safety office report said that from 2010 to 2011, eight out of 19 batches of chicken the company purchased from Liuhe had excessive levels of antibiotics.
Reports were sent to the company by the institute, but neither the company nor the institute informed the city government, food safety officials said.
On December 21, the Shanghai Food and Drug Administration said a sample of Yum Brands' raw chicken was suspected of contamination with an antiviral medicine. Samples are still being tested.
Feedback
RSS
