McDonald’s plays safe

McDonald’s is overhauling its food-safety strategy in China after problems with a supplier hit the fast-food chain’s image and eroded its sales in the country.

In a statement, it says it will review surveillance video from meat-production sites in China and boost audits of suppliers. 

More than half of the added audits will be unannounced and conducted jointly by third-party auditors and McDonald’s management teams. The others will be conducted by suppliers’ corporate auditors. 

Other steps include the creation of anonymous hotlines for suppliers and their employees to report unethical or noncompliant practices and the dispatching of quality-control specialists to all of McDonald’s meat-production facilities in China.

McDonald’s says it has created a new head of national food safety position in China that will report directly to the chief executive officer. The company is appointing Cindy Jiang – senior director of McDonald’s global food safety, quality and nutrition – as interim head.

The moves come as McDonald’s looks to restore operations in China, where it has more than 2000 stores, following problems that began in late July with meat supplier Shanghai Husi Food Co, owned by US-based OSI Group. 

Authorities accused the Shanghai plant of intentionally selling expired meat to restaurant companies after a television station ran a report alleging the practice. They also launched an investigation that has yet to be completed. Six employees of the Shanghai plant have been arrested for “selling substandard products.”

McDonald’s says is evaluating California-based Golden State Foods as a potential new supplier in China. The supplier’s China division is taking over management of OSI’s produce plant in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou. 

McDonald’s suspended orders in China after the expired-meat allegations. In the past six weeks it has replaced OSI with companies such as Cargill, Hormel Foods, Trident Seafoods and Fujian Sunner Development Co. McDonald’s faced a near three-week shortage of meat products in many of its stores in the region, limiting menu options and crippling sales in China, Hong Kong and Japan. 

Lettuce still isn’t available for hamburgers in China, though McDonald’s last week signed Creative Food Group as a new produce supplier.