SHANGHAI: A leading US meat supplier said yesterday that a Chinese unit at the centre of a food safety scandal had issues that were “absolutely inconsistent” with the group’s high standards.
“This is my company and events like these have a personal toll ... they simply don’t represent the values I stand for or those of my company,” Sheldon Lavin, the millionaire chairman, CEO and owner of Illinois-based OSI Group LLC told a news conference in Shanghai.
OSI said it was suspending operations at Shanghai Husi Food and would review all its China plants in a bid to limit further damage after losing two major customers. KFC and Pizza Hut parent Yum Brands Inc last week severed its ties with OSI, while the Japan and Hong Kong units of McDonald’s Corp said they were ending their relationship with the US meat processor’s Chinese unit following allegations it mixed expired meat with fresh produce.
David McDonald, OSI’s president and chief operating officer, said the group was making senior management changes in China, and will set up a quality control centre in Shanghai to better supervise its business. It will also bring in global experts to survey the China operations and improve auditing, including constant visual surveillance and extensive employee interviews.
In addition, it plans to spend 10m yuan ($1.62m) on a food safety education programme in Shanghai. OSI, which ranks among the top few dozen US private companies with annual revenue of close to $6bn, said its China operations had a certain amount of autonomy as the group wanted a decentralised business model that allowed decisions to be made locally, although global standards were not meant to be broken. McDonald said the China operations would come under the direct control of headquarters.
Shanghai Husi Food was accused earlier this month by a TV documentary of mixing expired meat with fresh produce and forging production dates. Regulators in Shanghai said Husi had forged the dates on smoked beef patties and then sold them after they expired. Police have detained five people as part of their investigation. There have been no reports of any consumers falling sick.
“To date, we’ve found issues that are absolutely inconsistent with our internal requirements for the highest standards, processes and policies,” McDonald told a packed news conference at a Shanghai hotel, adding all nine OSI food processing plants in China would be reviewed.
REUTERS
