Six OSI employees arrested in China over food contamination

The Chinese authorities have detained six employees of Shanghai Husi Food in their ongoing investigation into the food contamination allegations that broke last month.

Shanghai Husi’s US-based parent company OSI Group said in a statement that the employees were detained by the Shanghai branch of the Public Security Bureau.

"Throughout this investigatory process, we have been and will continue to provide our complete cooperation to all authorities involved," OSI’s statement continued.

The latest food scandal in China broke in July when the state-owned Dragon TV aired a report on how workers at Shanghai Husi had been mixing expired meat with fresh and using meat that had fallen on the floor.

The unit was also allegedly maintaining two record books, with one of them intended to mislead food inspectors.

Shanghai Husi Food was supplying meat to McDonald’s and Yum Brands, which operates KFC and Pizza Hut outlets in China.

McDonald’s has suspended the sale of chicken nuggets and other meat products in Hong Kong and Japan since the scandal broke.

OSI has withdrawn all products manufactured by Shanghai Husi Food.

The company has announced management changes under which OSI China will become part of OSI International and will be renamed OSI International China.

OSI said that it is also conducting its own reviews of all of its manufacturing facilities within China.