Shanghai closes OSI’s meat factory for selling out-of-date meat

The Shanghai Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has closed a meat factory owned by US-based OSI Group for selling out-of-date meat.

Shanghai Husi Food, a subsidiary of OSI Group, supplies meat to restaurant giants such as McDonald’s and KFC.

Authorities have suspended operations at the factory and seized products for further investigation.

A Shanghai TV channel alleged that workers at the facility mixed expired meat with fresh meat product and intentionally misled quality inspectors from McDonald’s.

Police have begun an investigation into the allegations, and said severe punishment will be imposed in the future.

McDonald’s noted that it immediately stopped using the facility’s produce, while Yum! Brands, the owner of KFC and Pizza Hut, said that it has also stopped using meat from the OSI factory.

OSI China also supplies meat to other prominent brands, including Burger King, Papa John’s Pizza, coffee chain Starbucks and sandwich maker Subway.

China has been affected by several food safety scandals in recent years. One of the worst was in 2008, when raw dairy products contaminated with melamine killed six and sickened nearly 300,000 children.